Every six months, those of us who see to the day-to-day workings of WP-ORG write a fund drive message, requesting funding for the next six months. We take turns explaining how WP-ORG operates, what we do, and how we serve the West Point community. It’s my turn at the wheel. https://www.west-point.org/donate/
As I sit here, I find myself contemplating what I have done, personally, to serve the West Point community. I frequently train new moderators, help you with your email addresses, I assist parent clubs and societies with learning how to create WordPress sites, answer your questions, and, if I can’t, I find a resource who can. Those are the things I do most days. That’s my job. But there is another side that is more than a job, it’s a passion. What I do every single day, is convert the personal web pages of deceased graduates to eulogy pages. If the family or class requests, I add photos and memorials to the main page of the deceased. We don’t charge a fee for adding anything to a memorial page. We have eulogies going back to the late 1990’s! http://defender.west-point.org/service/taps.mhtml
I read every single eulogy written within the WP-ORG system. I do that, so that nothing untoward ends up on the eulogy pages for our graduates, and to correct formatting errors that may occur. Reading each of the eulogies gives me insight to the people we create these pages for. It’s an honor to read them every day. Recently, we have one class son in the class of 1949, who has taken it upon himself to write a memorial entry for every class member in his father’s class. He has nearly completed his task. I have read them every day for months.
Of course some of the people I read about stick with me. When I visit West Point, I always go to the cemetery, where I visit many of the graduates I have come to know through how they’re remembered by their class, friends, and family, and often because I actually spoke on the phone with some graduates frequently before their death. When I have occasion to visit the cemetery, my visits grow longer each time as I reflect at their place of rest. There are some I miss terribly, and knew personally.
This year, however, I remembered one of “my” graduates in the most unexpected way. I took a vacation, which, if you know me, does not happen often. Typically I still do my WP-ORG work from wherever I am. This time, my husband and I celebrated our 50th anniversary in Israel. This was a meaningful trip for us, and I went nearly off the radar for the duration of the trip, and concentrated on being in the moment with my husband in a very spiritual place. Imagine my shock, when our tour guide stopped on a boardwalk in Tel Aviv, on our walk to Joffa, and said that this is where he always stopped, so that we could pay respect to the memory of a young man named Taylor Force. My worlds suddenly collided. Taylor Force (West Point class of 2009) was killed in a terrorist attack on March 8, 2016, during a trip as a Vanderbilt University graduate student, to learn about startup companies overseas. As our guide spoke of Taylor, I immediately pulled up his eulogy page, knowing exactly where to find it, and was able to show our group his photo, which brought a great deal of meaning to this impromptu moment. So, during that trip, I was able to remember Taylor, and pray for his family, friends, and classmates, with an entire group that was in no way affiliated with West Point. What an honor it was to have that meaningful moment that reminded me of why I do the work I do.
https://www.west-point.org/users/usma2009/65378/
If you did not know, the Taylor Force Act was passed by Congress, and signed into law in 2018. https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1164
I hope this message gives you some insight into the personal way WP-ORG operates.
We require very little to keep our services running. Every six months, our users provide us with a report card on how we’re doing. I hope you find as much value in it as we value each of you.
Link to All Forms of Donation: https://www.west-point.org/donate/
Credit Card Donation Link: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/
Donation Report: https://secure.west-point.org/donate/report/
F53 Budget: https://www.west-point.org/budget/
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Dian Welle
WP-ORG, Inc.
www.west-point.org
To Honor The Corps, The Corps, And The Corps
