Those veterans and their families who were welcomed, treated and honored at Henry Hudson Regional School District’s 10th annual celebration of veterans November 14 can thank MaryAnn Fiel for caring enough a decade ago to have this happen.
The regional school program included an introduction and welcome by both school Superintendent Dr. Tara Beams and Henry Hudson principal Kevin McCarthy, along with an honor guard from MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology and patriotic music by the 70-plus Henry Hudson school band. It also included a full breakfast, gifts, specially designed tee shirts for each veteran and letters of thanks from students. A host of local businesses, the Henry Hudson Education Association and Key Club all participated to make it happen with special thanks to Mrs. Fiel for her invaluable help and appreciation for all she did to make this all happen.
For Mary Ann, the idea started when she was a 7th grade student herself at Henry Hudson, the daughter of John Coberg, a longtime employee of Highlands.
Mrs. Clarke was Mary Ann’s history teacher more than 30 years ago, and it was she who assembled a veterans recognition event in the gymnasium. “It wasn’t fancy it was just a certificate, no breakfast no band just a morning of honoring our local veterans,” Mary Ann recalls, adding “I remember every year how excited my dad was to attend this. For him it meant everything for his community to acknowledge his sacrifice and service.”
The senior Coberg had served in Vietnam and worked for the borough for 25 years. Mary Ann said he taught her and her sister the importance of the flag, the nation and the military. Mary Ann said after she married and had children of her own, it was important to her to be involved. So she served on the Board of Education for a few years as well as the PTO at both Highlands and Henry Hudson.
It was when her daughter Chloe was in pre-K at the highlands elementary school that Mary Ann approached the principal to see if she could host a veterans breakfast.
“The first year it was simply all donated baked goods and juices that the parents graciously offered,” she said, “We didn’t have any T-shirts, and it was held at the Highlands elementary school gymnasium. We had about four veterans that first year.”
But the event grew and was moved to Henry Hudson where there was more parking and easier accessibility for senior citizens. Today, she said happily, “the event is fully sponsored by local businesses who donate all of the dishes that feed our veterans and their families.
This along with a grant that the Henry Hudson education association writes covers the entire event.”
Mary Ann was particularly honored by all those at the breakfast this year, not only for her decade of working on the annual event, but also because she did it this year while her own husband has been going through a series of hospital stays, emergency life saving and support issues, and is about to be evaluated for eligibility to be placed on a liver transplant list.
In typical Mary Ann fashion, she is also being tested to see if she is eligible as a living donor. Her husband is currently at Monmouth Medical Center where he has been since July and has been on a ventilator since August. He is suffering from a rare auto immune disease which has attacked his muscles and nerves and left him paralyzed from the neck down as well as deteriorating his liver to the extent he needs the transplant.
Still undeterred, Mary Ann acknowledges that with her husband’s illness and raising three Children, “my plate has been full.”
Still, the optimist continued, “every year, I’m blessed that I get to see this beautiful breakfast grow; that I get to sit with my own children, so they too grow up to appreciate all the sacrifices that these men and women make. This breakfast truly is a collaborative effort, and I hope our veterans see just how much their community appreciates them.”
She added, “ Even with all I have going on, I knew I needed to continue this tradition because it means so much to so many in our beautiful community. And it meant so much to my dad. With the help of so many people this year we pulled it off – and that made me smile…. which is no easy task these days.”
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