Drive past Union Presbyterian Church today and it remains unchanged.

If the wind is blowing on the open prairie, that will be the only sound rushing through the pine trees.

That wasn’t the scene Memorial Day.

Gary and Cindy Ziegler were the first to arrive at the church and unlock the doors.

Dona Ziegler, Gary’s mother, was with them. Betty Fisher, Cindy’s mother, joined them.

The doors were unlocked, bars laid out and coffee pots plugged in to warm.

Bulletins were laid out for distribution.

Dona Ziegler has been at the church on and off throughout the Memorial Day weekend to welcome visitors and explain the church history.

She, along with her son, Gary, and his wife, Cindy, man the church grounds, including a cemetery, and the building.

Since it closed in 1974, opening the church on Memorial Day weekend to share its history has become a tradition.

The Reverend Mike Olmsted, associate pastor at Westminster Presbyterian Church of Austin, led worship in the 135-year-old church.

Three years ago, Olmsted told the 34 people assembled he brought a confirmation class to the country church to perform clean-up work.

Bill Ehlke of Arlington returned to the church after a 23-year absence. Four generations of his family are buried in the church cemetery.

Ehlke offered words of welcome to the guests and gave the invocation.

Olmsted’s sermon recalled the Gettysburg Address given four and a half months after the end of the American Civil War, Nov. 19, 1863.

The sound of the wind rushing through the trees provided a backdrop to the message.

The sun streamed through the unstained glass windows.

The wooden pews showed their age — 135 years to be exact on this day.

Hymnals rested in racks, with the frayed covers and dog-earned pages marking favorite hymns.

Carol Rieken, guest organist, relaxed in front of the keyboards. Next to the modern-instrument an upright piano was silent.

Olmsted provided a history lesson, noting Abraham Lincoln was not the primary speaker at the original event. That was Edward Everett, who spoke for two hours, historians wrote.

Lincoln was asked to give “a few appropriate remarks” and his own “Gettysburg Address” lasted only three and a half minutes that day, but remains alive in history while Everett’s words are forgotten.

The theme of the pastor’s Memorial Day address was “A Faithful Foundation,” and he credited the Union Presbyterian Church’s founders with doing that 135 years ago.

Olmsted invitee guests to share their stories about the country church.

Dona Ziegler was the first to speak. She told all how happy she was to see so many people in church that day.

“We didn’t have this many when the church was getting ready to close,” she said.

She was happy “the roof doesn’t leak and the church bell still tolls.”

And she confessed, “I miss, Don, being here with me today.”

Her husband, Don, died a year ago and was buried in the church cemetery where six generations of his family are buried.

Her son, Gary, told the worshipers four generations of the Ziegler family were in the church that Memorial Day.

Evelyn Enzenauer recalled how Dona Ziegler invited her to help clean up the church and “that was one of the most pleasant days I’ve ever spent doing anything.”

There were prayers and a benediction to come, but first the 34 visitors sang a lusty version of “Blest Be The Tie That Binds.”

On the back of the bulletin commemorating the occasion, the last 12-years of restoration efforts were listed.

The county church is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and its preservation is necessary.

There was time for fellowship, swapping church stories and more bars and coffee, but soon enough, a school bus arrived with the blue-uniform-clad members of Hale Penny Fuller, American Legion Post No. 569 of nearby Stacyville, Iowa, there to render honors to deceased veterans buried in the church cemetery.

The visitors and newly-arrived guests moved to the rear of the church building and took their places along the cemetery fence for the Memorial Day program.

Walt Adams, the post’s chaplain, took his place in front of the Legion Post color guard, while the firing squad and a bugler, Paul Weis, stood off to the side.

There were no trees to shield the wind, blowing over the farmfields, so Adams’ voice was occasionally muted by nature. Still, he managed to deliver a poignant soliloquy from the perspective of what a deceased veteran sees on Memorial Day at the cemetery.

The firing squad raised its rifles into the air and fired a salute.

Paul Weis delivered “Taps” from his bugle.

And, the Union Presbyterian Church bell tolled from the steeple.

Afterward, Adams said Memorial Day is always special to him. “We try to remember all of the veterans who have gone before us on Memorial Day every year,” he said.

Another Post No. 569 veteran, Gene Wagner, retired long-time newspaper editor and publisher, said the same. “We should remember all the veterans for their service to the country,” he said.

And the one woman responsible for keeping Union Presbyterian Church from being forgotten each Memorial Day declared it all worthwhile.

“It was more than I expected,” Dona Ziegler said.