For the veterans

The cold winter months do not stop the staff of Albany Diocesan Cemeteries and our Catholic Community from keeping its promise never to forget our veterans.

The warmer weather allows us time to reset, clean and restore the gravestones marking the final resting place for the many thousands of military service men and women.  We do just that year after year, one gravestone at a time. But restoration work cannot be conducted in winter because specialized mortars and epoxies will not cure correctly in low temperatures. Instead, we decorate some of our veteran lots with beautiful, fresh evergreen wreaths.

We are able to do so through our long-standing Christmas Program that allows our families the opportunity to purchase wreaths and evergreen blankets that our grounds crew places on graves beginning a few days after Thanksgiving. For families with loved ones entombed or inurned in any of our community mausoleums, we offer vases of fresh flowers beautifully arranged and decorated with bows and holly berries. This year alone we placed over 3,100 decorations in our cemeteries!

On the order form for the Christmas Program is a space where the purchaser can choose to donate to our Veterans Christmas Decoration Program. Donations provide for the placement of decorations on our Soldiers Lots located in nearly all cemeteries managed by Albany Diocesan Cemeteries.
We wish to express our deepest gratitude to all members of our Catholic Community and beyond who gave generously to ensure we keep our promise never to forget the sacrifices our veterans made.

— Kelly Grimaldi, historian and associate director,
Albany Diocesan Cemeteries