By Shala Gean
Communications Specialist
Nominations are being accepted for the Texas Agriculture Memorial Day. The purpose of the memorial is to honor lives lost and sacrifices made in the pursuit of raising food and fiber for all Texans.
John Paul and Heather Dineen of Waxahachie organized the memorial day. The couple know the personal suffering of losing a family member in a farm accident. They lost their five-year-old son, Johnny, in a farm related accident about 10 years ago.
The accident prompted the Dineens to share their story and help promote farm safety, awareness and education.
More than 20 Texas farmers were honored at the inaugural ceremony held last year at the Texas State Capitol.
“They are very thankful that the state wants to honor the life of their family member,” Dineen told the Texas Farm Bureau Radio Network. “This helps them with closure and they know their loved one wasn’t forgotten.”
This year’s ceremony will be held Nov. 21 at 2 p.m. in the Texas State Capitol auditorium. Before the ceremony, a lunch for the family members of the honorees sponsored by Capital Farm Credit will be at the Texas Department of Agriculture.
The memorial has three categories—memorial, honor and memorial service list.
The memorial list is for those who have lost their life while engaged in agricultural-related pursuits such as working livestock, transporting agricultural goods or operating in the vicinity of machinery.
The honor list is for those who had a severely debilitating accident—loss of eyesight or limb(s), paralysis or deafness—while engaged in agricultural-related pursuits.
The memorial service list is for those who farmed, ranched or had a career in agriculture but passed away due to natural causes, fishing and ATV accidents.
Dineen reminded folks women also deserve to be honored.
“There are a lot of wives that worked right alongside those men their whole life on those farms or those ranches,” Dineen said. “They were just as much a key part of that operation as the man was.”
Nomination forms for the three categories are accepted online at https://goo.gl/forms/CrdSDoLGxJodgpLv1.
For more information, visit the Texas Agriculture Memorial Day Facebook page.
Dineen encourages folks in agriculture to share the page and application link.
“You never know who might see that and trigger a thought that they have a friend, nephew or grandfather or someone in there they may want to nominate,” Dineen said.