A total of 326 names were read during a Memorial Day service at the Owensboro Sportscenter on Monday, honoring veterans who have died over the last year and that have ties to Owensboro-Daviess County. White roses were also laid on the monument to honor the veterans.
The complete list of names can be found below.
The ceremony is an annual tradition to honor those served in the military and who have passed away since the previous year’s memorial service.
For last decade, Daviess County Judge-Executive Charlie Castlen has taken on the task of compiling the names to be read annually. Don White compiled the list for several years, then Terry Stinson took over for a short time. Castlen took over for the 2014 memorial.
Castlen said throughout the year, he reads obituaries and makes a record of anyone listed as a veteran. In the last couple of weeks leading up to Memorial Day, Castlen reached out to each funeral home and the coroner’s office to see if anyone was left off the list because they weren’t listed as a veteran in the obituary.
Castlen said the list includes anyone with ties to Owensboro-Daviess County — from growing up here to attending college or working here for several years, and even to dying in the local hospital or being buried in a local cemetery.
In addition to compiling the list, Castlen also reads half of the names during the memorial service. Marine Chuck Coffman read the other half this year.
Pam Smith-Wright, president of Kentucky AMVETS Ladies Auxiliary, led Monday’s ceremony and said it’s important that they continue to host the event and tell the names of the fallen soldiers.
“It’s an important day every year for us to stop and to remember why we have freedom in our country. We have to remember those who paid the ultimate price for our freedom,” Smith-Wright said.
The full list of names is below:
- Kenneth Edward Adkins
- George Robert Taylor
- Joe Willis Lee
- Gerald Gabbert
- Dr. David L. Medley, Sr.
- William Edwin “Bill” Ford, Jr.
- Oxel J. Dillingham
- Richard L. Hodges
- Ken Hutchins
- Brice D. Howard
- Bernard “Bo” McHenry
- Richard “Rich” Ernest Matthews
- Earl Nash
- Dennis R. Daugherty
- Robert Eugene “Bob” Settles, Sr.
- Leonard W. Bullard
- Jerome Hamilton
- Wilford Marion Devine
- Donald Carrol “Donnie” Layton
- Lester “Louie” Anderson
- Leon G. Poole
- Kenneth R. Clary
- Donald Potts
- Herman Joseph Payne, Jr.
- Benjamin “Ben” Walker Hawes, Jr.
- Jeffrey Ray Willis
- Ray Edward Jackson, Sr.
- Michael Wayne Clements
- Kenneth Franklin Puckett
- Harry Anthony Keller
- Halley Eugene “Gene” Baize
- Robert E. Wagner
- James Lou Boarman
- Kenneth Lyle Graves
- Charles “Butchie” Bryant Harris I!!
- Sherman L. Bruner
- Kenneth Tasco McKinney
- Roy Evans
- William S. Emmick
- James E. “Jim” Krampe, Sr.
- James T. “J.T.” Forrest
- James R. Beller
- Roy Allen Weeks
- Ernest Burnell Whitsatt
- John David Shively
- Don Earl Goodman
- William David Dunn
- Bradley N. Kassinger
- Ramon E. Bolliger
- Dr. John D. Lovett
- Butch Trimble
- James B. “Jim” Russell
- Larry D. Grant
- Jack Wendell Marksberry
- Melvin H. Boyken, Jr.
- Larry Wayne Marr
- Edward L. Boling, Sr.
- Joseph Alfred Fitzgerald
- Ernest “Truett” Coons, Sr.
- Robert “Bob” L. Cook
- James E. “Jimmy” Roberts, Sr.
- Clarence “Randy” Lee
- George Henry Moore, Jr.
- Malcolm “Mac” Ray Stallings, Jr.
- Kenny Belcher
- John Paul “J.P.” Velotta
- Eugene “Gene” Leonard Del Wright
- Doyle Allen Hobgood
- James Clemie Cecil
- Gerald Lamar Barr
- Edward ‘Buddy” Arnold
- Waymon Smith
- James Patrick “Pat” O’Bryan
- Royce W. Nation
- Mary M. Spalding Turner
- Larry T. Harralson
- James Robert Payne
- Donald G. Deeg
- John Heidingsfelder
- Joseph Kenneth Haynes
- Bill Stevens
- Larry Lee Wallace
- Franklin “Gerald” Sharer
- John Richard “J.R.” Ramburger
- Lyndell Clark
- Mike Pence
- Charles Newton
- Darrell Stroud
- Richard “Shug” E. Mattingly
- Gervase “Gerry” Anthony Trautner
- Roy Dennis, Sr.
- Kenneth Rowland
- Richard G. Norris
- James A. “Jim” Knight
- Joseph “Dean” Hartz
- Billy Duff Maxwell, Sr.
- Col. Robert O’Neal Boyle
- James “Frank” Wall
- James P. Hundley
- Lelan Dale Hancock, Sr.
- Michael M. Taliaferro
- Billy Randall Armour
- William Paul Barnard
- William “Bill” Thomas Pyland, Jr.
- David Breslin
- Miles Edward Crowson
- Mark Alan Schroader
- Unie Frank Posey
- Mike Hughes
- Jonathan Deke Book
- Wallace Ray Martin
- John Carl “Hoppie” King
- William H. “Bill” Whelan
- Kenneth Wayne Foster
- Terry Lee Sapp
- Rhett Daniel Beckhart
- David B. Moore
- Carl A Payne
- Jeffery “Jeff” Francis Fillman
- Charley R. Mattingly
- Charles Edward Milligan
- James Ray Daily
- Woodson “Woody” Edge McRoy
- Charles “David” Roehm
- James Sidney Crabtree
- Clarence “Chuck” D. Wilkins
- Donald Ray Jackson, Sr.
- Pvt. Robert Arle Wright
- James Wilson
- Charles “Bubby” White
- Roy Michael Johnson
- Harold Dean Bivins
- Frank Lee Crowe
- Patrick Martin Blandford
- Roy “June” Martin, Jr.
- Walter DeHaven Toler
- Stanley D. Downs
- Dr. R Glenn Greene
- Alvin Jenkins Boyer
- Edward L. “Ed” Lynch
- Carl Ray Mayfield
- Kenneth Walton Miller
- James S. Fleming
- Thomas Dewayne Hall
- J.M. Atherton
- David Lee Morris
- David Allen Brown
- Arthur A. Harris, Jr.
- Thomas E. Baker, Jr.
- Thomas B. “Tom” Riney
- Paul Jacobs
- Anthony Eugene “Gene” Higdon
- David Wayne Stewart
- George Allen Hurst
- Morton B. Downs, Jr.
- Patricia Ann Horn
- Arch E. Bamberger
- Robert Michael “Mike” Coakley
- George Warren Morgan
- Herschel L. Spalding
- Lloyd Ray Nash
- Chad Allen Roberts
- Noble H. Midkiff
- Russell John Walkosak
- Michael Douglas Gilmore
- Richard Dale Richey
- David Paul “Dave” Ridener
- Joel Keith Hayden
- W.G. Worthington
- Dennis Russell Kerwick
- Joseph L. Ayer, Sr.
- Christopher “Toph” Neil Stodghill
- Robert “Bob” Charles Brown, Jr.
- Levi Baker, Jr.
- John Robert Brown
- David R. Crafton
- James “Jim” Lexter Leach
- James Patrick “Jim Pop Pat” Hayden
- Bobby Gene Field
- Harold Ray Norris
- Sidney T. Jackson, Sr.
- Perry Leonard Murphy, Jr.
- The Reverend Richard Powers
- Lindy Lee Robertson, Sr.
- David Hamrick
- Mervil Wallace
- Kenneth “Ken” Masters
- Rex J. McCorkle
- Earl Roberts
- Gerald D. Manley
- Robert J. Scott
- Brian Scott “Scooter” Boyer
- Ralph McCoy
- Douglas Blane Wells
- Thomas Merle Burton
- James E. “Jim” Schell
- George “Bud” Best G
- Thomas O’Daniel, Jr.
- James I. “Jimmy” Haynes
- Joseph P. Rhinerson
- Richard L. Hall
- Donald Ray Ward
- John Horn
- Richard Robert “Dick” Yerington
- Dwain “Dean” Carlton
- Alton Casey Holloway
- Raymond Earl Davis
- Ray DeGraef
- Charles Anthony Hagan
- Louis Kirk Bailey
- Morris “Morrie” Frank Virnig
- Clinton Hall
- Kenneth Ray “Ken” McKenzie
- William Eugene Gaddis
- Elizabeth F. “Libby” Grant
- Daniel “Danny” R. Falloway
- William “Bill” George Hayden, MD
- Thomas Day II
- Lyndell Lee Randolph
- Bartley C. Benson
- Victor P. Jones, Jr.
- Larry Sutton
- Robert L. Wall
- Edward Leon Donohoo
- William “Bill” Arnold Ford
- Waynell Martez Martin, Jr.
- Johnny Mack Smith
- Charles Leonard Bartlett
- Rick Free
- Clarence Randall Hendricks
- Harry O’Neal Watson
- Jackie Roberts
- J.C. “Pops” Stewart
- Aloysius Gregory “A.G.” Schwallie
- Wilbur Maurice Millay
- Larry D. Williams
- Billy W. Keiser
- William L. “Hutch” Hutchinson
- Kenneth Allen “Kenny” Self
- Scott Allen Moore
- Joe Haycraft
- Lewis “Lou” Smith
- William Louis “Bill” Wilkerson
- James “Eddie” Edward Daniel
- Joseph Ernest Laney
- Mark Everly
- Rory Keith Burnette
- Trino Martinez
- Dr. John Raymond Combs
- Eugene J. Krampe
- Gary Lee Sharp
- Michael L. McDaniel
- Linus Ray Henderson
- Steven Edward Sibley
- John Anthony Knight
- Howard Hull Shaffer
- Gary Michael Clark
- Stephen Edward Gubler
- Jerry Wayne Phillips
- Charles Eugene Porter
- Benjamin Chandler Atkinson, Jr.
- William H. “Bill” Wemes
- Michael Lynn Bickett
- John Henry Jarboe
- Howard Carver
- Raymond C. Endracke
- John Thomas Lanham
- Dennis Scott Williams, Sr.
- Sidney Allen Probus
- Marilyn Anne Dean
- Loyd J. Cole
- Robert Lee “Bob” Graham
- Drexel Howard Peyton
- Clarence Kimball Morris
- Ervin Paul Morris
- Thomas “Jack” Hester, Jr.
- Barney E. Williamson, Jr.
- Jose O. Aponte
- Dudley D. Maske
- Joseph W. Howard
- Larry “Bull” Bullington
- Carlton R. Day
- Dr. Robert Joseph “Bob” Hobbs
- Stephen Mark Campbell
- William Thomas Drewer
- Cletus “Wesley” Wilkinson
- John Russell Games
- Wayne D. Frakes
- Jerry Ray Shelton
- Alton Morris Hampton
- Steven Wayne Taylor
- John Carroll “J.C.” Sellers
- Charles Neal
- Timothy Welsh
- William “Bill” Russell Miller
- Lonnie “Junior” Mitchell
- Leroy O. Fischer
- Michael Wayne Hardin
- Thomas L. Wilkinson
- Nolen Steven Smiley
- Robert Lee Mullins
- Donald Jay “Duck” Powers
- Tracy Gunter
- Ronald Tucker
- James D. Weedman
- Samuel “Kurt” Ford
- Michael D. Ehrhardt
- Marlin Kerkman, Jr.
- Hershel G. Nugent
- Emily Peach
- Paul Jackson Boone
- Darryl Kirk
- Jerry Ray Penrod
- Smith Lee Taylor, Jr.
- Carl Patrick Meador
- Carlton L. Roberts
- John Allen Murphy
- Damian Palmer Hoke
- Paul Edward Frields
- Michael T. “Mike” Deel, Sr.
- Edwin Ray Acree
- Charles E. Sweeney, Sr.
- Art Doane
- Mark Anthony “Tony” Smith
- Kimothy Arthur Strong
- Terry Wayne Chesnel
