Selbyville Community Club members cleaning the Selbyville Veterans’ Memorial are, from left, Joyce Franks, Carol Cary, Caron Moore and Deb Hiob. Club member Linda Daly also helped.
A once-overgrown and unnoticeable veterans’ memorial at Selbyville Town Hall — uncovered after being cleaned last spring for an Earth Day project — was weeded again this month and had new flags erected around it, as a project of the Selbyville Community Club.
“No one could see it because it had tons of tiger lilies in front of it and it wasn’t kept up,” club member Joyce Franks said. “We now have all the military flags on there. They made that memorial because of a young man, Thomas Adams, in town who, no sooner had he enlisted and was deployed to Vietnam, he was killed.”
Adams was killed at 21, on March 4, 1968, and is buried in Selbyville’s Red Men Cemetery.
The veterans’ memorial was created for him but now stands in memory of all veterans.
“There were quite a few more from the area who lost their lives, so now that memorial is for everyone in the town. There are no specific names on it,” Franks said.
Club members spruced up the memorial on May 14, spending nearly two hours there, replacing flowers and flags.
“While we were there, quite a few people drove by and rolled down the window and yelled, ‘Thank you,’ which is so small-town but very cool,” said Franks, who posted the cleanup on the Selbyville Community Club Facebook page.
A veterans’ memorial in Selbyville has been restored.
“There was nothing making the memorial stand out,” she said. “You could not see it. This memorial is a place for the community to honor and thank veterans. Additionally, the Delaware Veterans Memorial in Millsboro is a place for veterans and their families to be buried. This cemetery is open to visitors every day of the year, from dawn until dusk.
“The Selbyville Community Club, after getting permission from the Town, decided to take on the project of getting the memorial noticed. Our group thinned out the lilies, cleaned out the weeds, bought and planted some flowers, and now you can see the memorial. A member of the group made a wreath. We purchased flags of the Armed Forces and American flags, and now it stands out for all to notice. We as the Selbyville Community Club are very happy to be of service in our community,” Franks said.
The Community Club is involved in several projects to benefit the town.
On Saturday, June 14, during the annual Old Timers’ Day festival, there will be a tent where members will recruit for additional membership and sell raffle tickets for gift baskets. Gift cards and other items have been donated by local businesses and placed in the baskets, including scratch-off lottery tickets. Last year, the person who ended up with that basket won $500, Franks said.
Each basket will be valued at at least $50, and proceeds will benefit the town, she said.
The club is part of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs, which has members nationwide and worldwide who work to benefit their communities, women, children, veterans, those in hospice and charitable organizations.
Selbyville Community Club events include dine-and-donate events, bake sales, donations to area food pantries, Sweats for Vets clothing drives, support of the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Foundation by financially sponsoring two students in the Indian River School District, fundraising for the Selbyville Public Library, sponsoring the annual Youth Art Month art show at the library and helping with Mountaire Farms’ Easter for Thousands and Thanksgiving for Thousands.