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Margaret Frisby of Junction City wrote the poem "Sons of Glory" to teach her grand children about the American flag. (Todd Kleffman photo / November 10, 2012) |
JUNCTION CITY — It was a teachable moment, and being a retired teacher, Margaret Frisby not only recognized it but was inspired by it.
Over Memorial Day Weekend, Frisby’s young grandsons made it known that they did not have any American flags for the flag flying holiday. She got the flags and then began thinking.
“Being a teacher, I¿had to give them a lesson when I gave them the flags,” she said.
But instead of an historical lecture on Old Glory, Frisby was moved to write a simple poem she called “Sons of Glory,” 12 lines in four verses dedicated to those who have fought and died to preserve the principles the banner represents.
“I thought if I was a flag, what would I say to a child — or an adult — something simple,” explained Frisby, 66, who was special education coordinator for Boyle County schools. “I wrote this little poem in 15 or 20 minutes.”
By Labor Day, Frisby decided to have the poem printed professionally on good paper so she could present framed copies to her grandsons. Customers at the print shop noticed the poem, read it, asked if they could make a copy. One was an older gentleman who asked Frisby if she would read it to him because he did not have his glasses with him.
“He was a veteran, an Air Force pilot from Burgin, I think, I never got his name,” recalled Frisby, whose grandfather, Charles Preston, served in France in World War I and whose older brother, Jerry Lovett, was a Marine in Vietnam. “A tear rolled all the way down his face. He asked for a copy. That touched me.”
Since then, several others have asked for copies of the copyrighted “Sons of Glory,” and Frisby has taken to offering them to her mechanic, her air conditioning repairman, Junction City Mayor James Douglas and others she thinks might appreciate its sentiments. She hopes her poem might be circulated at some local Veterans Day events on Monday.
“It’s just to be shared,” she said.
“People who serve our country that way, that’s just a different domain. I can’t imagine their walk. They wear big boots. There is no way I could get in their shoes and know what they’ve given.”
