Sharing this feature story by Lissa Guyton of 13Action News in Toledo, Ohio published on August 26, 2020. From it, we learn how the local Bowsher High School students achieved a cherish goal to restore dignity and honor to a long forgotten Civil War veteran.
During his lifetime, this veteran's identity became more associated with a number assigned to him rather than his own name. The same held true in death.
Only a lonely looking brick size stone imprinted with his patient number had marked his gravesite - until now.
The Civil War veteran was Private Joseph Withers, a patient at the Toledo State Hospital who resided there at the time of his death in 1919.
He was buried at the Toledo State Hospital Cemetery.
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Excerpt:
“I have been taught that a person dies twice. The first time is their physical death. The second is the last time someone says their name. Today, we are saying Joseph’s name again,” said Robyn Hage, supervisor of the Leading Rebels program. “I have truly enjoyed watching the students get excited about this project. It was a lot of work to raise that money. A lot of them want to be activists in the community, so this was a great way to get involved. For me this is very personal because it connects our past to our future.”
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