A scene from the Dryden Cemetery on the evening of June 26 as a crowd of local family members, historians and genealogical society members gathered to remember the lives of 14 WWI Veterans buried there. Photo by Samantha Hawkins

By Samantha Hawkins

On Tuesday, June 24 and Thursday, June 26, the Dryden Genealogical Society hosted their tenth annual Spirit Walk at the Dryden Cemetery.

This free guided walking tour focused this year, on the lives of 14 WWI Veterans who all, in one way or another helped to shape not only our country but also our city, as we know it today.

Walk organizer Will Vermeer says the Spirit Walk is an important step in remembering our past and helping to share that history with both current and future generations.

Hours were spent by Genealogical Society members compiling information on each of the Veterans through their various service records, at-a-station papers and in some cases diaries and even poems which were all then shared with members of the public as they toured the various grave sights over the course of the evening.

Lives celebrated were that of W. Kenneth C. Edye (1891-1964), Kenneth Austin (1898 – 1989), Frank Wice (1887 – 1918), Philip Horsley (1874-1994), Charles Sherwood (1893-1916), Fred Sherwood (1894-1978), William S. Kennedy (1876-1917), Walter J. Rehill (1895-1916), George Ferguson (1899-1966), John M. Ferguson (1895-1929), James W. Hatch (1888-1969), Arthur C. Wilson (1892-1962), Arthur Tew (1896-1972) and Joseph Greaves (1887-1957).

For more information on the Genealogical Society including the date of their next meeting visit http://my.drytel.net/wvermeer/dfhg.html