Former Lee County Sheriff Tim Bivins reminded an audience Monday that Memorial Day is about more than a day off, a long weekend and family picnics.

Bivins, who served as Lee County sheriff from 1986 to 2006 and went on to be elected to the Illinois State Senate in 2008 and served until 2018, was the guest speaker at Sublette’s Memorial Day observance. The event was held at the Sublette Veterans Memorial in front of the Ellice Dinges Center in Sublette.

Bivins said Memorial Day, for many, has become a long weekend that signals the unofficial start of summer, a time for family get-togethers and, for many, a day off from work.

But the real reason for the day, when the country honors its military dead, needs to be remembered, Bivins, now the pastor at Grace Fellowship Church in Sublette, said.

“As holidays go, we forget the reason why they were established. It’s like Christmas,” Bivins said. “We hear a lot of people talk about Memorial Day. I heard someone, not here, say ‘happy Memorial Day.’ To me, that’s like going to a funeral and saying ‘happy funeral day.’ It’s about the memory of those who have died in the service.”

Bivins reminded the audience that for families who have lost a loved one in military service, Memorial Day means much more.

“I can guarantee you that the families of those who have fallen have not forgotten,” Bivins said. “For all those Gold Star moms and dads, brothers and sisters, and aunts and uncles and grandparents, they remember not only today, but to them, every day, is Memorial Day.

“Today is the day when we think of all those who didn’t come home. We think of their families and their friends who miss them. I thank God for those who returned and pray for the families of those who didn’t.”

Bivins quoted a speech given by former President Ronald Reagan at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier on Nov. 11, 1988:

“We could not forget them. Even if they were not our own, we could not forget them. For all time, they are what we can only aspire to be, giving, unselfish, the epitome of human love, to lay down one’s life so that others might live.

“We think of their lives, we think of their final moments. In our mind’s eye, we see young Americans in a European forest or an Asian island or at sea or in aerial combat, and as life expired, we know that those who could, had last thoughts of us, and their love for us.

“As they thought of us then, so too we think of them now, with love and with devotion and with faith, the certainty of what they died for was worthy of their sacrifice.”

John Stenzel, Sublette village president, said the service was a time to gather, not to celebrate war, but to honor the men and women who gave their lives in service to the nation.

“Their sacrifice is the reason we stand here in freedom, their courage is the reason our flag still flies, and their memory is the reason this day will always matter,” Stenzel said.

Stenzel recognized the veteran in the audience, Vietnam War veteran Denny Klein, and thanked Klein for his service.