The Sarah Maples Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution are lucky to have as a member Susan Cothran. She and her husband, Dan, are the most patriotic couple we know. They belong to the Patriot Guard Riders and just recently participated in the “Snowball Express.” The Patriot Guard is a patriotic organization nationwide that honors, respects and stands for fallen veterans. Both Dan and Susan “stand tall” escorting soldiers both young and old at funerals in the East Texas area. They escort their bodies from airports to the funeral homes and attend veterans/patriotic ceremonies where people request a flag line, or a motorcycle escort. Dan retired from the Army after 25 years of service and Susan served her country for 33 years by working with military and state department children living overseas. One of the jobs of the Snowball Express is to look after more than 1,700 children of our fallen Military Heroes. This year they managed to give each child a leather vest so they could be like the adults who ride motorcycles. They also collected service patches so the kids could decorate the vests with them.
Susan’s other projects are tending to the Veterans Memorial in Mabank. She combines conservation, patriotism and crafting into something useful. This year she designed and made various wreaths for the Memorial to honor our great country’s heritage through art. She finds wreaths of different types in church and garage sales, then takes them apart and recycles what she can. She then adds her own touch of symbolic items and ribbons to make the wreaths special. She has wreaths for Christmas, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving.
Susan believes our patriotic heritage is symbolized and honored by the use of the wreath. A wreath is the shape of a circle showing unity and completeness. Our patriots gave all for the unity of our country. It also shows no beginning or end. The various medium of vines, evergreens and foam signify the earth, traditions, order, truth and recycling. The colors used in the ribbons depend on the season but red, white, and blue promote the symbolism of our flag, our history and development of our country. Our flag and a POW/MIA flag are included. The seasonal colors of white for purity of sacrifice; gold for power, strength and trust, green for the environment, earth and renewal; red for the passion, love and energy of our country; brown for comfort and stability; blue for the heavens and peace.
By adding service patches, anchors, planes etc., and also flowers, berries, angels and other objects it shows respect, the cycles of life and God Above.
The Sarah Maples Chapter has a conservation project to keep the memorial gardens growing and beautiful with new plantings each year. Money for the project comes from collecting aluminum cans at each meeting and taking them to the recycle plant each month.