The dedication ceremony for the Idaho State Veterans Cemetery in Blackfoot was held in October 2021. This veterans cemetery is one of more than 150 veterans cemeteries across the nation, the second state cemetery in Idaho. This 40-acre Idaho State Veterans Cemetery will serve more than 20,000 eastern Idaho veterans and their families.

The event included comments and speeches by Under Secretary, Major General Ret. Quinn of the National Cemetery Administration (NCA), Gov. Little, Mark Tschampi, Chief Administrator, Division of Veterans Services, and James Earp, State Veterans Cemetery Bureau Chief. 

Everlasting Tree Honors Under Secretary Mathew Quinn

John and Heidi from Everlasting Tree honored Under Secretary Mathew Quinn with a commemorative pen set created from the same wood the Montana state veterans ceremonial urn covers were made from. 

Veteran Ceremonial Urns Donated by Everlasting Tree

Flag donated to the Veterans of Eastern Idaho by Karen Clark.
Presentation case constructed and donated by Everlasting Tree. 

OSCS DOYLE D. CLARK’S RETIREMENT FLAG

Flown underway from the USS Nimitz in the Persian Gulf During Operation Desert Storm

Donated to the Veterans of Eastern Idaho by Karen Clark.

2021 Abraham Lincoln Pillar of Excellence Award

The 2021 Abraham Lincoln Pillar of Excellence was awarded to the of state of Idaho in recognition of Everlasting Tree’s Veterans Ceremonial Urn Cover Project. This award was accepted by Mark Tschampi, Idaho State Division of Veterans Services, Chief Administrator in Washington DC last week. It was then presented to John and Heidi for their Veterans Ceremonial Urn Cover Project.

John designed and created over eighty custom ceremonial urn covers for Veteran’s who are going to be inurned at a State Veteran’s Cemetery. Over forty Veteran’s State and National Cemeteries in twenty states have received these ceremonial urns.

This award from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recognizes excellence and innovation by honoring outstanding state programs that support veterans within their states. The Pillars of Excellence Award was established by the VA in 2012 and each year seven awards are presented. This is the VA’s pinnacle of excellence award. 

James Earp, Idaho State Veterans Cemetery Bureau Chief, and Marv Hagedorn supported this valued program and were instrumental in getting it submitted for consideration.