BIG CYPRESS – Members of the tribal community gathered in Big Cypress on Nov. 8 to recognize veterans in advance of Veterans Day on Nov. 11. Seventeen people participated in a memorial walk at the Big Cypress Veterans Memorial Fitness Trail on the reservation.

Big Cypress Health outreach coordinator Edna McDuffie and her team organized the event. Big Cypress Health educator Jamie Diersing led the group in warm-up exercises before the walk began.

There were designated stops along the walk – set up to recognize active duty Armed Forces service members, to remember veterans who have died, and a final stop to pay tribute to all veterans. Pastor Arlen Payne, of the Big Cypress New Testament Baptist Church, and Pastor Salaw Hummingbird, of the Big Cypress First Baptist Church, led the group in moments of silence and prayer at the stops.

The group included employees from Emergency Management, Health and Human Services, the Seminole Police Department and Seminole Fire Rescue. Sunny Frank, an Emergency Management coordinator, came to pay tribute to his father, Joel Frank Sr., who served in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Others in attendance included Emergency Management director Paul Downing (Passamaquoddy Tribe of Indian Township) and Paul Bowers Sr. Downing is a U.S. Army veteran, while Bowers is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. Ruby Osceola, mother of the late Herman L. Osceola, also participated in the walk. The Big Cypress gymnasium is named for her son, a U.S. Marine who died in the line of duty in 1984.