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Seattle City Light Workers Gather for Memorial Day Events

The American flag flies at half-mast during a moment of silence at the Seattle City Light South Service Center.

The sun shone brightly across the North Service Center and South Service Center on May 25 as dozens of City workers gathered to raise the American flag and pay their respects to servicemembers who died serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Seattle City Light workers at Boundary Hydroelectric Project salute the American flag, lowered to half mast.
Seattle City Light workers at Boundary Hydroelectric Project salute the American flag, lowered to half mast.

The events, which took place at the service centers, as well as the Systems Operations Center and Boundary Hydroelectric Project, are an annual tradition for City Light workers, many of whom served in the military.

City Light General Manager and CEO Debra Smith provided remarks at the events, reflecting on members of her own family and their service.

The Liberty High School Naval Junior Officers Training Corps (NJROTC) presented the colors at the North Service Center, and a flag was raised that had flown in Iraq from 2019 to 2021. City Light volunteers raised the flag at other events.

Bill Devereaux reads "In Flanders Fields" at the North Service Center.
Bill Devereaux reads “In Flanders Fields” at the North Service Center.

Bill Devereaux, Director of the Environmental Management and Real Estate Division, hosted the events held in Seattle. The presentations included a moment of silence and two readings: wartime poem “In Flanders Fields” by John McCrae, M.D., and a piece on the significance of the poppy, popularized as a symbol of remembrance by the poem.

As the events concluded, workers were invited to take a poppy pin. Memorial Day will be observed across the United States on Monday, May 29, 2023.

A Seattle City Light worker takes a poppy pin at the North Service Center Memorial Day event.