Steamboat Springs honors veterans at cemetery ceremony

Steamboat Springs honored its dead on Monday. More than 200 locals gathered at the Stockbridge Transit Center, boarded buses, and rode a short distance to the cemetery for a 45-minute ceremony hosted by the Leo Hill American Legion Post #44 and the Schubring-Cruse VFW Post #4264.

The event was not just a ritual. It was a deliberate act of preservation.

Veterans arrived more than an hour early. They didn’t just show up; they ran through the program. They worked out the kinks. They wanted the day to go right. For this group, precision is how they honor the service members buried in the ground and those who gave their lives for the county.

“It’s important in terms of what this country stands for,” said John Taylor.

Taylor served in the Army from 1960 to 1963. He lived in Summit County for 34 years before moving to Steamboat Springs. He now lives in Casey’s Pond. He watched the crowd settle into lawn chairs. He saw the flags being placed on the bricks of the memorial. He saw the 21-gun salute.

“The Steamboat Springs ceremony is something Steamboat Springs should celebrate,” Taylor said. “It should make our town proud.”

The ceremony included opening remarks, the lowering of the flag, and the placement of a wreath on the Veteran’s Memorial. A speaker read the names of two service members from World War I and two from World War II. Scouts and members of the Civil Air Patrol placed flags in a container at the site. These four names represented a much larger group.

Jeff Steck, a career U.S. Navy member and chaplain for the local American Legion and VFW posts, moved through the crowd. He spoke to Robby Robertson, a 91-year-old Marine veteran who also lives in Casey’s Pond. Robertson flew planes during the Vietnam War.

The turnout suggested the community cares. The buses filled up. The lawn chairs filled up. The air was quiet until the guns fired.

Taylor, who has lived here long enough to know the difference between a local event and a national one, compared this gathering to the one in Summit.

“This is great and much larger than the one that we had in Summit,” Taylor said. “Every community needs to do things like this — it’s so important.”

The event was a reminder of who is buried here. It served as a reminder of what they did. It was a reminder of what the town owes them.

“Every community needs to do things like this,” Taylor said. “It’s so important.”