By Coral Gables Gazette staff
With America’s 250th anniversary now less than six weeks away, Coral Gables marked Memorial Day on Monday morning with its annual remembrance ceremony at the War Memorial Youth Center, honoring local service members who died in military service. Approximately 75 residents, city officials, military representatives, and community leaders gathered May 25 at 405 University Drive for the hour-long observance.
A ceremony of remembrance
The program opened with welcome remarks from Fred Couceyro, the city’s Community Recreation Director, who served as master of ceremonies, followed by an invocation from Rabbi Jonathan Fisch. The City of Coral Gables Honor Guard presented the colors, and members of Boy Scout Troop 7 and Girl Scout Troop 2013 led the Pledge of Allegiance. Violinist Ruth Jauregui performed the National Anthem.
Although the printed program listed Mayor Vince Lago for the proclamation reading, Vice Mayor Rhonda Anderson delivered it in his absence. Anderson also offered her own remarks before reading the names of Coral Gables’ fallen service members. Each name was followed by a flower placed at the monument by members of Boy Scout Troop 7 and Girl Scout Troop 2013. The monument at the War Memorial Youth Center bears the names of Coral Gables service members who died in war — a roster spanning conflicts from World War II through more recent decades of American military engagement.
Mayor Vince Lago, Commissioner Melissa Castro and Commissioner Ariel Fernandez were absent.
A letter from U.S. Senator Ashley Moody was read by Mary Carmen Davila, South Florida District Director. Commissioner Richard Lara offered a poem in honor of the fallen. Former Mayor Donald D. Slesnick II introduced the keynote speaker. Former Mayor Dorothy Thomson was also in attendance.
Rear Admiral Mark A. Schafer, Commander of Special Operations Command at U.S. Southern Command, delivered the ceremony’s keynote address. Schafer’s command, headquartered in the Miami area, coordinates special operations forces across U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility spanning Latin America and the Caribbean. His appearance marked a change from last year’s ceremony, when Major General Alex Reina served as keynote speaker. The presence of a senior military commander from a nearby installation has become a consistent feature of the ceremony, connecting Coral Gables’ local observance to the broader institutional life of the armed forces.
Rabbi Fisch led a moment of silence before trumpeter Andrew Amengor played Taps. The program concluded with remarks from Couceyro.
America 250 framing
This year’s ceremony reflected the approaching national milestone prominently. The America 250 theme was displayed on the program’s cover, and the observance was framed explicitly around the country’s semiquincentennial — the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, arriving on July 4. Girl Scout Troop 2013 joined Boy Scout Troop 7 in the Pledge of Allegiance and the flower ceremony, a new addition to the program. Violinist Ruth Jauregui’s performance of the National Anthem replaced the vocal performance featured in prior years.
The America 250 theme placed this year’s observance within the broader national commemoration leading to the country’s semiquincentennial in July, connecting Coral Gables’ local remembrance to a milestone of national reflection.
The program printed “In Flanders Fields,” the 1915 poem by John McCrae, as its closing text — one of the most enduring expressions of remembrance in the English language, written by a Canadian officer during World War I and reprinted in Memorial Day programs across the country for more than a century.
A memorial with local roots
The War Memorial Youth Center, constructed in 1950 as a memorial to Coral Gables residents who served in World War II, has hosted this ceremony for decades. The original facility was dedicated to those who answered the call during the war’s defining years, and the monument beside it has since been expanded to reflect the service members the city has lost in subsequent conflicts. The center operates throughout the year as a hub for community programming — fitness classes, youth sports, senior activities — but on Memorial Day it reclaims its foundational identity as a living memorial to the cost of freedom.
The annual ceremony remains one of Coral Gables’ longest-standing civic observances, linking the city’s founding-era memorial tradition to the national milestone approaching in 2026.
