Donor Grants Veteran’s Last Wish

This old soldier didn’t quite make it to Veterans Day. Jim Ayers’ failing heart gave its final beat Aug. 7. He was 91. Ayers left the world penniless and with no relatives around to pick up the tab for the cost of his sendoff. Those who served can always receive free burial in a national VA cemetery, of course. But one of Ayers’ last wishes was that he be laid to rest in the neatly groomed graveyard that is just a short walk from where he worshipped with those he called his family – St. John The Baptist Antiochian Orthodox Church in Post Falls. Ayers’ request was granted thanks to an anonymous donor who paid the $2,650 for mortuary and gravesite costs. Since then, however, about half that figure has been raised to repay the generous donor/ Doug Clark , SR. More here. (Kathy Plonka SR photo: Father Basil, of St. John The Baptist Antiochian Orthodox Church, leads the way through the cemetery gates to the gravesite of war veteran Jim Ayers)