For Sequim residents Dena Rowe and her brother Gordy Maitland, coming out to Sequim View Cemetery on Memorial Day is a family tradition.

The two have been coming out to the cemetery every Memorial Day since they could walk, Rowe said, placing flowers on relatives’ gravestones and honoring their lives and military service.

“For us, that’s what Memorial Day is all about,” Rowe said.

“For our family, it was about remembering the people in our family and community that served our country.”

The annual Memorial Day ceremony, hosted by Jack Grennan Post 62 of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4760, commemorated men and women who served in the military with a ceremony open to the public at Sequim View Cemetery on May 28.

American flags were placed on graves identified as veterans prior to the ceremony. Sequim View Cemetery was the first of a procession of ceremonies held on Memorial Day, with others following at Jamestown Cemetery, Dungeness Cemetery and Blue Mountain Cemetery.

Carl Bradshaw, Jack Grennan Post 62 of the American Legion commander, led the ceremony with Michael Sieg, Post 62 chaplain.

“If you asked any of (the veterans) if they would (serve) again, they would say definitely,” Bradshaw said. “Because we care about our country and way of life.”

After the ceremony, Rowe and Maitland placed flowers on their grandparents gravestones for whom they were named: Dena and Gordon Brown.

They also placed flowers on their uncle’s gravestone, Gordon Jerome Brown, as well as on the markers of several other relatives. Rowe said their grandfather served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and their uncle also served in the US Navy in Vietnam.

The brother and sister said their grandparents owned a farm in Agnew several years ago and the property was divided between Rowe and Maitland. Rowe and her husband built a house on part of the farm where they live today; Maitland, who lives in Port Hadlock, owns the other half.

Dena Rowe of Sequim places flowers on her grandparents’ gravestones, one of whom she is named after, at Sequim View Cemetery after the Memorial Day Ceremony on May 28.

Dena Rowe of Sequim places flowers on her grandparents’ gravestones, one of whom she is named after, at Sequim View Cemetery after the Memorial Day Ceremony on May 28.

Dena Rowe of Sequim places flowers on her grandparents’ gravestones, one of whom she is named after, at Sequim View Cemetery after the Memorial Day Ceremony on May 28.