To the editor:
Growing up in Gloucester and being the daughter of a Navy veteran, one learns at an early age what the American flag stands for and how to respect her.
The flag is to be displayed with honor every day, but taken in at dusk every night if not with a light shining on her.
When I was a child at East Gloucester Elementary School, there was a custodian (Mr. Welch) who loved the students and loved his country. He took it upon himself to pick a child each week to help him raise the flag each school morning and then lower the flag and fold it properly each afternoon.
As I drive around town, I can’t help but notice the number of flags that are left up night after night, some at our local schools. Some are ragged and torn, some need desperately to be replaced.
While talking about this with my daughter, she filled me in on something that I did not know. You see, she is a third-grade elementary teacher at the Veterans Memorial School here in Gloucester. She told me about a co-worker — another third-grade teacher with whom she team teaches named Steve Mirandi.
It seems that Mr. Mirandi, as the kids call him, also knows what the American flag stands for. He proudly raises the flag outside of the school each morning with a student and lowers it and folds it properly each afternoon with a student as well.
Thank you, Mr. Mirandi, for instilling in these children what it means to be an American and how to respect this country!
MARY ANN ALBERT BOUCHER
Mt. Pleasant Avenue, Gloucester
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