Humboldt students pay respects in No Stone Left Alone ceremony

Dozens of students from Humboldt, Sask., visited a Second World War cemetery in advance of Remembrance Day to honour the legacy of those who died in combat for Canada.

For Danette Lees, this Remembrance Day looks different.

The Grade 7 student is among dozens of Humboldt Public School students who laid poppies along the headstones of fallen Canadian Armed Forces members at a Second World War cemetery in Humboldt, Sask., last week ahead of Remembrance Day.

But for Lees, the event was more than just honouring those who lost their lives in war; it is also a way to commemorate two of her relatives, who she says are buried among the more than three dozen servicemen and women at the gravesite, marked by white headstones engraved with their names and service ranks.

“I feel like this would make them very proud of themselves,” Lees said, referencing her great-grandfather and his brother buried at the site. “I’m very honoured to be here with my class and everyone.”

The students gathered at the cemetery as part of the town’s annual No Stone Left Alone ceremony — a program for students to honour veterans and learn about their service each Remembrance Day.

No Stone Left Alone is a movement born out of tradition and founded by Maureen Bianchini-Purvis, who would visit and lay a poppy at the grave of her veteran mother every Remembrance Day starting when she was a young girl.

Later on, Bianchini-Purvis’s husband and kids joined in, leaving red poppies at Beechmount Cemetery in Edmonton. Then, out of ambition to leave a poppy upon all the headstones at a gravesite, friends lent a hand.

Soon enough, the movement picked up speed and, in 2011, the No Stone Left Alone organization was founded with the ambition of educating students about the service of Canada’s military while making sure no headstone goes without being remembered.