“He would help anybody — no matter how sick he got,” Emily Barney, Andrew Barney’s daughter, said after a Memorial Day ceremony in Lake Placid on Monday.

Andrew Barney was one of more than a dozen deceased veterans honored in Memorial Day ceremonies throughout the village on Monday, which culminated in a parade down Main Street and a flag-lowering and raising ceremony at the Lake Placid American Legion Post 326, which was attended by more than 100 people.

The Memorial Day ceremony is intended to mourn the loss of Lake Placid’s deceased veterans, post Commander Doug Hoffman said.

“We continue to mourn their loss, but most of all, we celebrate their lives,” Hoffman said.

Marines veteran Stuart Spotts hands a flag to a veteran’s widow during Lake Placid's Memorial Day ceremonies Monday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

After the ceremony, Andrew Barney’s family remembered him as kind and generous — a pillar of this community and a veteran of the New York Army National Guard. Barney died in June 2021 while waiting on a lung transplant, but he — along with the other veterans remembered on Monday — fostered a heart of service to the end. Barney served as a Lake Placid Central School District bus driver for 25 years before his retirement, and he was a member of the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department for more than 31 years. Andrew used to joke that he lived at the firehouse, his family said.

At the legion post on Monday, Lake Placid legion post members and veterans Stuart Spotts and Bob Marvin lowered flags that were raised this past Veterans Day in honor of Barney, Ernest Hough and Forrest Walton. After folding the flags and presenting them to veterans’ families with a plaque, Spotts and Marvin raised new flags in honor of deceased veterans Shirley Lamoy, Thomas Hadjis and Raymond McIntyre.

Andrew Barney’s wife Merry — who attended the ceremony with their daughter Emily and son Arron, along with Andrew’s twin sister, Angie — accepted Andrew’s flag and plaque. Merry said the plaque would join dozens of others on her walls that Andrew earned throughout his lifetime — evidence of his commitment to this community and his country. Andrew loved these plaques, Merry said.

Hough’s granddaughter, Pearl, accepted her grandfather’s flag and plaque as her father — Ernest IV — and uncle Trevor Hough looked on. After the ceremony, Ernest remembered his father, a Marine veteran, as a “local boy, born and raised.”

“He had a huge love of country and community,” he said.

People wave and cheer as the Lake Placid Middle-High School band marches past during the village’s Memorial Day parade on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

Ernest Hough III, who died in May 2022, was a U.S. Marine Corps veteran. He was a three-sport athlete at Lake Placid Middle-High School, according to his obituary, and he later became the first ice hockey coach for North Country Community College and for the first girl’s youth hockey team in Lake Placid.

Hough instilled resilience and independence in his sons, Ernest IV said, both of whom went on to serve in the armed forces, too. Ernest IV and Trevor both served in the U.S. Army.

Walton’s daughter, Michele Lacey, accepted a flag and plaque in his honor. Walton enlisted in the U.S. Navy after graduating from Lake Placid High School and served in World War II. Walton was an avid outdoorsman, according to his obituary, and he fulfilled his dream of becoming a conductor and engineer on the Adirondack Scenic Railroad before his death in March 2022.

Legion members lowered and raised flags at a few other locations around Lake Placid on Monday. At the Adirondack Community Church, a flag for Gary Sheffield was lowered and a flag was raised for William Hardy. A flag at Elderwood of Uihlein at Lake Placid was lowered for Harry LaBrake and a flag was raised for Gary Messack. At the Lake Placid Health and Medical Fitness Center, a flag for Bart Patnode was retired and a flag for Robert Thompson was raised in its place. An old flag was lowered at the North Elba Cemetery on Old Military Road, and a flag honoring all veterans was raised. Members of the American Legion Post 326 Auxiliary placed a wreath at the Legion’s Memorial Monument in honor of all veterans and hosted a luncheon at the legion after the ceremony.

Lake Placid’s Memorial Day parade returned on Monday after a three-year pandemic-related hiatus. Residents and visitors lined Main Street to wave American flags and cheer on veterans, Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts and Brownies, Lake Placid American Legion Post 326 members and auxiliary members, Sons of the American Legion and Homeward Bound Adirondacks as they marched from Brewster Park to the legion with the Lake Placid Middle-High School band bringing up the caboose with patriotic tunes.

The Lake Placid Middle-High School band plays a patriotic tune during the Lake Placid Memorial Day parade on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

Lake Placid’s Cub Scouts walk on Lake Placid’s Main Street during the village’s Memorial Day parade on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

Lake Placid’s Girl Scouts and Brownies troupes walk in the village’s Memorial Day parade on Monday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)

Harrietstown town Supervisor and military veteran Jordanna Mallach walks in the Lake Placid Memorial Day parade on Main Street Monday. (Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)