By Mike Sever

Record-Courier staff writer

Veterans and their families stood quietly at Tuesday's Veterans Day commemoration at the Portage County Courthouse. Most stood on the back edge of the memorial plaza with its granite pillars and flag poles, as if reluctant to stand on pavers engraved with veterans' names.

Another 260 memorial pavers have been installed since last Veterans Day. Commissioner Chuck Keiper said the plaza is meant to be a living memorial "of honor in perpetuity" to those who served their country.

About 150 people attended this year's ceremony, a smaller group than last year for the plaza was dedicated. Last year, more than 500 people endured cold, wind and stinging rain to pay tribute.

This year, the number were smaller but the weather was just as cold as silver-haired veterans, crowned with caps from their Veterans of Foreign Wars or American Legion posts, saluted as the color guard from VFW Post 1055 took its position.

"The Star-Spangled Banner" was sung by Max Nolin of Theodore Roosevelt High School in Kent, and speakers included the Rev. Michael P. Garvey of St. Joseph Church of Mantua. Garvey, a retired U.S. Navy lieutenant commander, told of his own and others experiences in uniform.

Other speakers were county commissioners Maureen Frederick and Chuck Keiper, State Rep. Kathleen Chandler and Bob Park, director of the Portage County Veterans Service Commission. The invocation was given by the Rev. Pamela Canzater Cheney and the benediction by the Rev. Melissa Carvill-Ziemer. A brass trio from Ravenna High School played the "Armed Forces Salute," a medley of music for each military service.

After the ceremony, veterans and their families strolled the plaza, heads bent, looking for the new memorial stones. One man placed a bouquet on a memorial stone for his father, who died last year. Some were headed home, others to an American Legion of VFW post, "to tell stories and toast absent friends," as one veteran said.