Don’t talk to Lynette George about the Blue Star Banner program unless you can handle a few tears.
While many people can drive past Blue Star Banners throughout Kitsap County and not think anything about them, George knows all of them and the stories behind them.
George, a mother of two sons who served in the military, is the powerhouse behind the program.
It began with a trip to California in 2005.
“My sons were both in Iraq for the second time each,” she said. “My daughter-in-law and I went to California to visit a battle buddy (friend) of my son’s who had just returned. We planned a trip to take him to Universal Studios to celebrate that he was back.
“When we drove down his street to pick him up, I saw that the street was lined with these beautiful banners. I got very emotional and it hit me hard.”
After that trip to Temple City, Calif., she was determined to bring banners to Kitsap County, where she lived and where she had raised her family.
She researched the program and found that in most places it was sponsored by cities. As a civilian budget official for the U.S. Navy, she knew there weren’t extra funds in the military or in the budgets of local cities to buy the banners. So she formed a nonprofit.
“It took a year and a half to get it going,” she said. “But I was able to get a graphic designer to design the banners and I built a website.”
She applied and received four grants from the Kitsap County Foundation. Other donations just started coming in. The first banner went up in 2006.
To date, there are 250 Blue Star Banners hanging throughout Kitsap County honoring those who served. There are 16 Gold Star Banners honoring those who were killed in action. The blue and gold stars denote the program that began in World War I and continued in World War II where blue stars were hung in the windows of homes where someone was serving in war. Gold stars were hung if their loved one was killed during the war.
Each banner is 6-feet long and costs about $350. The banners were originally hung in Silverdale and Bremerton, but the program has grown and now there are banners in Poulsbo, Port Orchard, Port Angeles, and are spreading to Port Townsend, Chimicum and in Mason County. Banners are traditionally hung in the cities where the military member grew up.
Blue Star Banners usually hang from three to five years, and sometimes the person who the banner honors will request to have the banner taken down once he or she returns from serving overseas, or their service in the military ends.
Gold Star banners hang indefinitely unless the family requests otherwise.
Since the program gained attention, donations have continued to come in and now there are annual fund-raising events to support the program. Every St. Patrick’s Day, the “Beer Run” in Poulsbo supports the banner program. And veterans’ motorcycle groups have several poker runs throughout the year, giving the proceeds to the banner program.
George also discovered that many times, families of those serving want to sponsor and pay for a banner to honor their loved one who is serving. Because of that, the nonprofit is financially stable, she said.
“We do come across times when a family wants to have a banner, but can’t afford it,” she said. “That’s where we come in.”
She also uses some of the funds to market the program through advertising, on the website and on Facebook so that everyone knows about the banners. Photos of all the banners are on the website and family members are welcome to share stories on the Facebook page. Stories of those who are honored with Gold Star Banners are posted on the website.
For each banner, there is a story of a military member who served.
Among them is Sean and Allie Brazas. Their banner is attached to the power pole at the corner of Randall Way and Kitsap Mall Boulevard.
Allie has a Blue Star and Sean has a Gold Star.
“They didn’t grow up here,” George said. “But they served here and they met and were married here. Their banner hangs at that corner because they were engaged at Applebee’s across the street.”
Sean was a dog handler in the Navy and died from a gunshot wound May 30, 2012. The following January, his wife came to see their banner hung.
At the base of the pole where the banner hangs, sit flowers and ribbons and an American flag offered often by friends of the couple who still live in the area.
Another banner with a story is the banner that hung at the corner of Randall Way and Bucklin Hill Road. It was purchased by George’s family to honor Jeremy Seelig, a service member they didn’t know but who deserved a banner.
“It wasn’t until years later that I got a call from someone who said ‘I’m Jeremy Seelig and I want to know if I can have my banner.’”
Seelig had seen George’s truck which has advertisements on it for the banner program and jotted down her phone number. He thought his banner should come down because he had gotten out of the military.
She told him that he could have his banner and that it was her family that had sponsored it. He now is an EMT and works in the Bremerton shipyard and helps George promote the banner program.
“He’s such a wonderful person,” she said. “He helps watch out for all the banners and lets me know if there are any banners that have faded or have torn, so that we can replace them.”
Seelig said it meant a lot to have his banner hanging while he was in the service.
“Right before we deployed, they came to where we were and had us sign all the papers so that our banners could go up,” he said. “I was just a 20-year-old kid and I was scared. Somehow, it made me feel better that that banner would be there for my friends and family to see while I was away.”
When he came home and left the service, he decided that his banner should come down to make room for another banner of someone who was serving.
Now he enjoys being a part of the banner program in Mason County.
“Lynette is some woman,” he said. “All the time she puts in and all that she does to sponsor the program and get the word out for those who are serving, it’s just amazing.”
As for ladders and putting up the banners, that’s where George draws the line. She said Wave Cable hangs all the banners without charging the nonprofit for their work.
George’s sons, Christopher Weimar, 28, of Seabeck, who served in the Army, and Wayne George, 30, of Longview, who was a Marine, both suffered psychological and physical injuries at war. They both have service-related disabilities. But George, who served in the Navy from 1981 to 1985, considers herself lucky.
“My sons came home,” she said. “I’m just so lucky.”
She had an experience while they were away. A man dressed in a suit driving a black SUV came up her driveway while she was out raking her yard. She thought he was military and was coming with bad news, but he was just asking directions.
“I fell to my knees,” she said. “I thought ‘I’ve lost one of my boys.’ After that, I was just so appreciative of everything.”
It’s with that spirit that she says she will continue to make time for the banner program as long as military families want to have banners hung.
To find out more go to www.Bluestarbanner.org. or Facebook and look for the Blue Star Banner page.