Wright County Area Blue Star Mothers chapter hosted a Gold Star Mother’s Day Tea on Sun., Sept. 25. Each year on the last Sunday in September the group honors the mothers whose child has made the ultimate sacrifice in service to this country.

Four Gold Star Mothers attended. The afternoon started with coffee, tea or water to drink, muffins, bars and fruit. As the guests enjoyed their treats, each Gold Star Mother was asked to tell everyone about their hero. 

Stella Huso told about her son Wayde, who was killed in Vietnam in 1969. She told of his desire to fly and that she did not know how many flights he had actually flown. He received many medals including the Purple Heart. He had been a quiet boy and a deep thinker who enjoyed camping and family vacations. Wayde had a bunker mate that came to visit his mother and to this day continues to keep in touch with annual Christmas greetings. 

Teresa Greniger told about her son Robert who was killed in Afghanistan. She smiled and chuckled as she told a story about a time when he was wondering what it was like to stick his head out the car window, like a dog does, and didn’t realize that the car window was up!  

Christina Friedman told about her son Teddy who died in Colorado. She reminisced about a time when he was young and he and his brother were wearing new matching clothes. They came into the house to change and Christina was proud of them for thinking to change out of their new clothes and put play clothes on. She asked them for the clothes so she could hang them up. When the boys handed their mother their shorts they were ripped. She asked them what happened. Teddy explained that he had hooked the dog up to his pants and they ripped. Asking Isaiah why his pants were ripped he replied that he tried it too just to see if his pants would rip also. Everyone had a good laugh with her over the story of brothers getting into mischief.

Jeanne Bearson told about her son Dougie who died in Okinawa. She told all that Dougie was a civilian pilot and enjoyed flying cessnas over Japan while stationed there. He also enjoyed rebuilding, supercharging and modifying his vehicles, something he shared with his younger brother, Billy. They would phone and video chat together, motorhead buddies, They would work on engines and talk shop for hours! This is a love that Billy passed on to his nephew, Dougies son, after Dougie died.

While all these stories are different there is one common denominator, these heroes were very loved by their families and were proud to serve their country.