Capital Region Scrapbook: Memorial Day always a day to remember

PHOTOGRAPHER: File Photo

Faces in the crowd belong to excited children during the Memorial Day parade in Scotia on May 28, 1969.

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Alice Colozze remembered.

Leon Mosher did too. So did thousands of other people in Schenectady County.

It was late May in 1962. Colozze, who lived on Nott Street, decorated the graves at her family plot at St. Anthony’s cemetery in Glenville. An American flag stood over the grave of her son, Donald C. Colozze, who died in 1931 at the age of 19. Donald Colozze had served in the U.S. Navy as a torpedo man.

Alice was not alone. Other people made sure fresh flowers and red, white and blue banners decorated graves for Memorial Day.

On Wednesday, May 30, services were held in several places. People gathered at the war memorial in front of Rotterdam Town Hall, at Vale Cemetery and at Veterans Park in Schenectady. Mosher, an Explorer Scout from Post 14, was at all three locations. As a bugler, he played taps during the ceremonies and reminded people of the sacrifice others had made for freedom.

Scotia’s parade in ’69

In 1969, Memorial Day was observed in Scotia with a parade up Mohawk Avenue. Firefighters, musicians, and minor celebrities — including “Miss Hope” from the Schenectady County chapter of the American Cancer Society — helped put kids and adults along the village’s main street in a festive mood.