Morgan Wall/The News
A young woman places a flag at the grave of a veteran during last year’s Rockford Memorial Day Service.
Morgan Wall/The News
Re-enactors deliver a gun salute after last year’s Rockford Memorial Day Service.
ROCKFORD — This Saturday people will gather at the Rockford Methodist Church once again to honor the legacy of servicemen at the annual Rockford Memorial Day Service.
The Rockford Preservation Society sponsors the annual service, which has been taking place for over two decades in the historic community of Rockford. The service will start at 3 p.m. on Saturday at the church. The featured speaker for this year’s service is Nora Brooks. She will portray Anna Morrison Jackson, the widow of Stonewall Jackson.
Following Brooks’ presentation, the program will continue in the Rockford Community Cemetery. Flags will be placed on soldiers’ graves, and local Civil War re-enactors from the 28th N.C. Troops Companies I and F will have a gun salute. Donations will be accepted at the event to support programming for Rockford Preservation Society.
Each year the society brings in a speaker to talk about a different war period in America’s history. Last year’s program featured a performance by Dr. David B. Thompson, professor of music at Limestone College in Gaffney, S.C., titled “Confederates at the Keyboard: Piano Music During the Civil War Era.”
This year’s speaker, Nora Brooks, is not new to the Rockford event. Brooks portrayed Robert E. Lee’s youngest daughter, Mildred Childe Lee, for the 2009 Memorial Day service.
“She was so amazing,” said Hannah Holyfield, a leader with the preservation society. “We’re really looking forward to having her there.”
Brooks teaches honors and advanced placement history courses at Sun Valley High School in Union County. She is an alumna of the Civil War Institute of Gettysburg College and a recipient of the Jefferson Davis Medal for Promotion and Preservation of Southern History by the N.C. Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy.
The Rockford Preservation Society, a non-profit organization, was created in 1972. Its members work to preserve the history and sites of Rockford, formerly the county seat of Surry. For more information about the society or the event this weekend, visit www.rememberrockford.com or call Hannah Holyfield at 374-3825.
Contact Meghann Evans at 719-1952 or mevans@mtairynews.com.
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