“Carry the Torch of Freedom”

Despite cloudy skies at first, the sun rose high overhead Saturday morning in time for the most recent installment of the Hometown Hero Banner Program.

Since 2008, over 2,500 banners have graced the poles around downtown Lock Haven and the nearby river walk. Pictures of faces of individuals representing all walks of life, all eras of our nation’s history, and all conflicts domestic and abroad emerged from people’s attics, shoeboxes, and albums.

Throughout the morning and early afternoon, a few hundred people made their way down to the river and throughout town for the patriotic festivities and to view the banners.

Families stopped along the river taking time to remember a loved one or to thank a veteran or first responder. Others walked hastily through the crowds looking for familiar faces among the over 200 new banners hanging.

Master of Ceremonies Cara Montarsi, local State Farm Insurance Agent and active member of the Board of Directors of Downtown Lock Haven, Inc. started off the ceremony with a general welcoming of all local and national dignitaries and brief introductions of all special guest speakers.

The crowd first heard from Angela Harding, Clinton County Commissioner and President of Downtown Lock Haven, Inc. who thanked everyone involved with this year’s Banner Ceremony and expressed her “deepest and sincere appreciation” for all of those being honored and who have been honored in the past.

United States Congressman Fred Keller posed the question, “what does it mean to be an American?” He spoke about how our freedoms that we have today are the most precious, and expensive of things especially for those who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. “When armies show up at a place of conflict from all over the world, and you see our American flag…just knowing that America is there for you is a great feeling.” “There is no such thing as an average American – we are exceptional, our people stand out to protect and defend.”

State Representative Stephanie Borowicz was in attendance saying that she does not deserve to stand alongside those who have served, fought and bled for our country’s freedoms. “Some of these banners are here for those who have passed on; they give us a moment to see what is still here, and to not take [our freedom] for granted.” “Remember the 13 we lost this week in Afghanistan, as they continue to fight and stand for freedom,” she charged the crowd.

Joel Long, Mayor for the City of Lock Haven recalled the first Hometown Heroes event in 2008 which was held in Triangle Park. “There are times that our country did not treat veterans the best, but we rectified that now – we honor them – this celebration is for our veterans and first responders, and I am proud.”

Guest Speakers for the event included United States Navy Rear Admiral Sara Joyner, Chief of Legislative Affairs, David R.  “Randy” Padfield, Director, PEMA, and Timothy Reeves, CEO, Bucktail Medical Center.

United States Navy Rear Admiral Sara Joyner, Chief of Legislative Affairs

“The Navy is not here, we are foreign, out there, doing our job to make sure problems do not come to our shores,” Navy Rear Admiral Sara Joyner said in her speech Saturday morning. “It takes time to transit the globe, and we stay out there for weeks, and months at a time.”

“Today I will share with you 3 things: Sacrifice, Shared Stories, and Service,” Joyner explained.

Sacrifice

“The acknowledgement of service is in your heart,” Joyner explained. “Literally, leaving the Pentagon in your rear view mirror is the best thing you can do,” Sara said jokingly. Speaking to Lock Haven, “as a town, you recognize and value service members, it is inspiring, you define our rights and liberties and make it possible.”

Shared Stories

“I really wanted to serve in the Navy and attend the U.S. Naval Academy,” I told my father, who laughed. “He said it was hard to think of his daughter as serving and working in the military, but he was there for me, so in 1985 I wanted to serve in any way that I could, and do defend this country, so I chose Naval Aviation,” Joyner explained.

“My dream was to fly aircraft off of aircraft carriers, and in 1993 I finally had the opportunity to fly them off of aircraft carriers,” she said. “After about 5 years of straight sea duty, I went to lead about 120 maintenance officer professionals who were absolutely not impressed with me, so my time there started off rough.”

“They put me in the back office, by myself, saying to themselves “well, glad we took care of that” as they were not impressed or wanting to be led by a woman,” Joyner stated. “After a couple of weeks I moved my desk out into the middle of the maintenance department, I asked, listened, and learned from them and they slowly warmed up to me…I had many men have to get over things in order to work with me, a woman, but it was an absolutely amazing experience for me,” Joyner added.

She then went into a story about how one night she kept the entire aircraft carrier awake almost all night. “There is only 1 shift to work on an aircraft carrier, and that is all day – you wake early to prepare the carrier deck for the day, and you sleep when it is night,” she explained. “There was this one time when we were on the water in Northern Iraq, a convoy had hit an IED and I decided to stay overhead in the plane for as long as I could to provide air cover…I flew loud and low so enemy knew we were there at all times, it took hours, but at around 2am I showed up back to the carrier and landed my plane…there was absolute silence from about 1,000 people standing around on the flight deck who were waiting up for me, asking why I was late…that night, I motivated the men on the carrier with my story, and we connected deeper,” Joyner explained.

Service

This year marks the 20th anniversary since 9/11 which saw thousands of first responders on the ground in New York City, The Pentagon, and in rural Pennsylvania.

“How can you serve if you cannot join the military,” Sara asked the crowd. “I want you to join the Navy, but community service and being a first responder is just as important.”

“We all accept the challenges and carry the torch of freedom, and I have full confidence in the next generation and whatever they may choose to do, even though I may be a bit biased towards the Navy,” Joyner joked. “Find some way to give back…there is no place in this world like the United States of America.”

David R.  “Randy” Padfield, Director, Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA)

“I [still] do not know what I want to do when I grow up,” began David. “In my position with PEMA, it is ironic for me to think that we are all here today sitting on a hazard mitigation project,” he said while speaking of the river walk which was built in the early 1990s as a way to control possible future floods from damaging life and property. “Our motto is that we make nothing happen,” he mentioned, which makes complete sense if you really think about it.

He began by explaining that some never leave their hometown, and others leave to serve a greater calling. David’s story started as an explanation as to who a hometown hero can be. As a young adult, he was recruited by a local ambulance corps in his hometown in Schuylkill County to serve with almost a dozen others as a Junior Ambulance Corps. “The job of the ambulance corps members was to recruit and train young corps members to teach them and to become EMTs and paramedics as they got older,” David explained. “Many of my friends in the program became paramedics, went into the military, or health professions…my heroes are those people who recruited me and wanted to build a system of something much larger than ever imagined, and to them I am truly grateful.

“A hero can be someone completely unassuming to you – be someone’s hero,” David charged the crowd.

Timothy Reeves, CEO, Bucktail Medical Center

A familiar face that stood behind the podium was Timothy Reeves, CEO of Bucktail Medical Center in South Renovo.

“Today I speak on behalf of the healthcare system and on behalf of our friend, employee, and volunteer Margaret Palmer, who passed on from COVID-19 earlier this year,” Tim explained. “She knew everyone in this building, their likes and dislikes, she loved the residents and the jobs she worked.”

“She worked every day until she tested positive,” Tim said.

By the beginning of March 2020 we had a new enemy on our doorstep – the onset of the global pandemic. “We instituted frequent testing as county and state conditions grew worse…our main concerns were to keep residents and staff safe,” said Tim. “After Christmas, it was December 29, we had our first positive case…after that, it spread to 13 residents and 3 staff…in a matter of hours it went from 0 cases to 16.”

Tim explained that doors were closed and the hospital was broken-up into sections – meals, linens, and refuse were carted outside around buildings into the COVID treatment portion of the hospital to mitigate the spread, and the hospital was broken into “zones.”

“Staffing changes occurred by the minute,” Tim mentioned. “Some RNs resigned at the onset, staff worked as many days in a row as they could, and would isolate themselves from their families at home just to be safe, and we were fortunate to have the National Guard assist.”

As Tim explained, “people adjust quickly to change – I quickly learned where all of the supplies were kept in the hospital, we learned where the big bumps were in the parking lot from the kitchen to the red zone, we had just learned a routine when we had to back and make a whole new routine, change occurred frequently as conditions worsened or got better.”

“It was then, on January 22, I was able to declare the hospital COVID-free for not having any new cases in a 14 day period.”

“I gathered the team together in the hallway to give them the good news and we cheered and smiled, but then we got quiet as a hush fell over us all, and we remembered the hard times that fell on us, and we remembered Margaret; we haven’t backed down from this pandemic, and we make change and evolve as time goes on.”

The 2021 Hometown Heroes banners will be in place throughout Lock Haven and the river walk for the next 2 years. Please, as you walk through town, take time to look at them and reflect on the past, the present, and the future.

We owe our lives to these veterans, first responders, and healthcare personnel.