A Personal Remembrance from Fredericksburg’s Luminaria

I’ve just returned from Fredericksburg National Cemetery’s annual Luminaria, a stirring and inspiring commemoration event. I’ll have a couple photos to share tomorrow morning.

On a personal level, the Luminaria was always an opportunity to see my friend Jon Maiellano and his family. The Maiellanos always came down from their home near York, Pennsylvania, to experience the event, and they always made a point to find me so we could all catch up.

Jon passed away in September, a victim of COVID. At that point, the pandemic had taken more than 662,000 lives; it has since taken more than a million. Jon was an ardent supporter of ECW, and on this night, tied to this event, I wanted to share my remembrance of him from last fall.