http://www.unionleader.com/article.aspx?headline=Mom%20aims%20to%20transform%20her%20grief%20with%20wreaths&articleId=eccd8758-89d2-46a9-9a68-b0037c71a222
Dixon was a friend of mine. Was my age when he was killed. He left behind a wife and four children, ages 2-8.
Mom aims to transform her grief with wreaths
By SHAWNE K. WICKHAM
New Hampshire Sunday News Staff
Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009
MANCHESTER – As a military funeral coordinator, Navy Petty Officer 2nd Class James Dixon's mission was to honor those who serve and comfort those who grieve.
Now Dixon's mother wants to honor her son in similar fashion.
Anne Chouinard of Manchester is hoping to raise enough money to place at least 650 Christmas wreaths on graves at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen. That's where Dixon conducted military honors at funerals.
It's also his final resting place. Dixon was killed in a car crash on May 9.
"I'm doing it for my son because he loved his job up there, and because he walked those hallowed grounds, and to him that was an important job," Chouinard said.
Anne Chouinard of Manchester wants to raise enough money to place 650 wreaths on graves at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery. (SHAWNE K. WICKHAM)
She was inspired after seeing a 2007 photo of wreath-covered graves at the cemetery on the Web site of the Blue Star Mothers of New Hampshire.
"It took my breath away."
When she learned there were no plans to decorate the graves this year, Chouinard asked the cemetery director, Mike Horne, if she could take on the task.
Any individual is welcome to decorate a service member's grave, Horne told her. And that's what she resolved to do.
Now Chouinard is hoping there are more individuals out there who share her vision -- a lot more. Her goal is to raise enough money to purchase 650 wreaths, at $7 apiece.
On Saturday, Dec. 5, volunteers from the Blue Star Mothers of New Hampshire and from veterans' groups will place the wreaths on as many graves as possible.
Chouinard especially wants to decorate Section 4 of the cemetery, where so many service members who died in Iraq and Afghanistan are buried, including her son's classmate, Michael Ouellette. James Dixon is buried beside Ouellette.
But she wants to decorate other veterans' graves too -- "the ones that have no families and there's no one to remember them."
James, the younger of her two sons, joined the Navy Reserves after his graduation from Manchester Memorial High School in 1999.
When Dixon told his mother he'd been called to active duty about a year ago to serve as a Navy funeral coordinator, Chouinard asked how he could do such difficult work. "He told me, 'Mom, you're praying for me, I'll be able to do that job.'"
The assignment brought her a sense of relief, that in this time of war, her son's active duty would be served close to home. "I thought he would be safe because he wasn't going to 'the big sandpit,' as he put it."
But that security was shattered when James' wife, Jessica, called to tell Chouinard he had been killed in a crash on Route 125 in Lee. Their 2-year-old daughter was unhurt, the only survivor.
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It was the night before Mother's Day.
Chouinard, who became a Gold Star Mother that night, said the wreath project is what will get her through her first holidays without James.
"I think it's really important that people do things to help others, in memory of their son or daughter, thinking of things that they would like to be accomplished."
She wants to make the project an annual event. And she hopes James' four children will get involved some day. "So when I'm not here to do it anymore, they'll be here to do it."
A devout Roman Catholic, Chouinard said she believes that everything is part of God's plan. "I feel that there's always good things that come, even out of a bad situation."
The wreath project, she said, "is a very good thing coming from a very sad situation."
Karen Thurston, president of Blue Star Mothers of New Hampshire, said her organization is pleased to hold donations for Chouinard's project. In her experience, families are touched to find wreaths on their loved ones' graves.
"It just means so much to them that someone else took the time to think of them and their sacrifices," she said.
Chouinard's friends, family members and fellow Blue and Gold Star Mothers have been circulating e-mails about the project. She's been touched by requests that have come in with donations, asking her to place wreaths on certain graves.
Chouinard thinks her son would be proud of her efforts.
"He'd be very, very happy. Because if he was here, he would be doing it," she said.
"James wouldn't want me siting home and crying everyday. James would want me out there doing things to help other people."
With the holidays approaching, Chouinard is hoping others will be inspired to reach out to service members and their families.
"Your next-door neighbor's husband is deployed; who shovels the snow for her? Who's out there to help?" she asked.
"The 80-year-old veteran in a wheelchair who really could use some help. A shoulder for someone to cry on.
"There's just so much that can be done," she said.
Dixon was a friend of mine. Was my age when he was killed. He left behind a wife and four children, ages 2-8.
