SN 6.5.2021

Page 2/The Sun and News, Saturday, June 5, 2021

Middleville honors late community leaders, fallen service members

Greg Chandler

Staff Writer

Walking behind a drum-

line of students from the

Thornapple Kellogg High

School marching band,

Amanda Pullen headed slow-

ly east on Main Street in

Middleville, leading her

horse, Macho.

Draped across the saddle

was a folded American flag.

In the stirrups were a pair of

black riding boots, turned in

reverse. The riderless horse

symbolizes those who gave

their lives for their country.

It was the first Memorial

Day parade since Pullen’s

father, Charlie, passed away

Nov. 20, 2020, at 71. An

Army veteran and passionate

advocate for veterans

throughout Barry County in

addition to serving as

Middleville village presi-

dent, Charlie Pullen always

looked forward to being part

of the day’s activities.

“There were a few times

I wanted to cry,” Amanda

Pullen wrote in a text later

Monday, “especially when I

would walk past an older

veteran and they would stand

up and take their hat off.

“Last [year] Dad and I

talked about doing this exact

tribute for someone else. But

COVID hit, and Middleville

didn’t have a parade. Doing

it this year just made it even

more special for me.”

Meanwhile, behind

Pullen, members of the

Eavey family were in a Jeep,

pulling a trailer honoring

their father, Walt. The trailer

was adorned with the

American flag and flags rep-

resenting each military

branch, the uniform shirt

Eavey wore while serving in

the U.S. Army during the

Korean War, and Eavey’s

famed corn sheller collec-

tion. Eavey, a longtime

Thornapple Township trust-

ee, died Oct. 11, 2020, at 87.

“The Memorial Day

parade was a big deal to him.

It was kind of his jam,”

Eavey’s youngest daughter,

Sherri Hall, said.

Hall said she got a call

from Craig Kenyon of the

Middleville Lions Club, one

of the event organizers, ask-

ing about being part of the

parade in honor of her father.

“I was a little surprised

when Craig called and want-

ed to do that, but it’s nice to

honor him,” she said.

While Monday’s

Memorial Day parade and

graveside ceremony in

Middleville honored all who

gave their lives in defense of

their country, it was also an

opportunity to remember the

two longtime community

leaders.

Local Navy veteran Bob

Buys spoke of both Charlie

Pullen and Eavey during a

brief ceremony during the

parade when the procession

stopped on the bridge over

the Thornapple River to

honor those lost at sea. Buys

spoke of how they, along

with Lois Bremer, another

longtime resident who died

in early April, worked for

nearly a decade to develop

the veterans memorial just

north of the Sesquicentennial

Pavilion.

“All three were instru-

mental in the development,

fundraising and ever-im-

proving landscaping of what

will stand for many genera-

tions,” Buys said.

Members of Cub Scout

Pack 3065 carried a small

sign with Pullen and Eavey’s

names on it and the words

“never forgotten.”

Hundreds of spectators,

many wearing red, white and

blue, sat down along the

flag-lined street to watch the

Oliviana Roberson waves to the TVC float in the Middleville Memorial Day parade
Monday as she watches alongside Nikoletta and Remi Roberson. (Photo by Brett
Bremer)

A float covered in the late Army veteran’s antique corn sheller display honors Walt

Eavey during the 2021 Memorial Day parade in downtown Middleville Monday. (Photo

by Brett Bremer)

Commander Rich Jenkins of American Legion Post
140 in Middleville leads the Memorial Day service at
Mount Hope Cemetery in Middleville Monday. (Photo by
Brett Bremer)

The day’s honored veteran, United States Marine Cpl.

Ivan Ploeg, walks alongside Lauren Hollingsworth as

she delivers flowers at the memorial to Middleville’s

fallen servicemen at Mount Hope Cemetery Monday.

(Photo by Brett Bremer)

Amanda Pullen leads her horse, Macho, over the Main

Street bridge in downtown Middleville Monday in honor

of those who gave their lives for their country. Pullen

and the riderless Macho walked in part as a tribute to

her father, Middleville village president Charlie Pullen,

who died in November 2020. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

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