- December 4, 2025
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Horizon West 15-year-old Ethan Tasior spent hours in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Gotha looking for veterans’ gravestones.
He came across a gravestone with the name Bob Ross on it.
His initial reaction was surprise. Could this really be the gravestone of famous painter and teacher Bob Ross?
But what surprised Tasior more was learning Ross was a veteran. Indeed, the artist was a 20-year veteran of the U.S. Air Force and reached the rank of master sergeant. His time in the military influenced his scenic artwork.
Tasior added Ross to the growing database of veterans resting at Woodlawn he created as part of his Eagle Scout project last year. The project also supports Horizon West American Legion Post 419’s National Wreath Across America efforts.
The legion will use the database Tasior created to coordinate efforts for this year’s Wreaths Across America Saturday, Dec. 13, at Woodlawn.
Tasior has several family members who served in the military in various branches, including the Navy, Army, Marines and Air Force. His great-grandfathers served during World War II, and some aunts and uncles served in active combat in Vietnam. His father, Terry Tasior, was named in honor of Lt. Terrence C. Graves, who received the Medal of Honor and gave the ultimate sacrifice in the Vietnam War.
“This is a great way for me to learn more about my family histories,” Ethan Tasior said. “I never knew that some of my family members served. Hearing their stories and getting to see a different side of them is such a great thing for me, because I love learning history.”
The time and care Ethan Tasior took in learning his own family history is the same he did with each gravestone he encountered at Woodlawn Cemetery.
Ethan Tasior has been laying wreaths on veteran gravestones since he was in second grade. He had known for years he wanted to do something related to remembering and honoring veterans for his Eagle Scout project.
When he learned Woodlawn didn’t have a database to track the location of the more than 2,500 veterans buried at the cemetery, he thought it was the perfect project.
Based on the veterans’ gravestones, Ethan Tasior’s database has veterans’ names, ranks, branch in which they served, war(s) they fought in and any honors they received. When searching through the database people can filter based on information they have available to find the right veteran.
Ethan Tasior found 30 veterans who received Purple Hearts, three prisoners of war, 16 Bronze Star Medal recipients and a Pearl Harbor survivor while creating the database.
“It kind of filled me with a sense of sadness to know there are this many young men that had to give their life for our freedoms,” he said. “But it also filled me with a sense of joy knowing there’s this many young men willing to fight for our freedom and pride in thinking there’s this many men who were committed to all their family and friends and country back then.”
He brought together about 25 other Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts to help with clearing gravesites of veterans so he could record their information in the database. Sometimes the gravestones would be covered in dirt or sand.
While cleaning the graves, Ethan Tasior came across family members who already had spent an hour trying to find the grave of their loved one who was a veteran. Ethan Tasior was able to look up their loved one and, within 15 minutes, guided them to the correct headstone.
“It filled me up with a sense of joy and pride that I was able to help people,” he said. “It felt really nice to see they were able to find their person, because some of them weren’t in the best shape to go walking the whole cemetery. It was nice I was able to give them the accurate information and say, ‘Here he is or she is.’”
Terry Tasior said it’s impressive to see how his son’s project started as a simple idea and has become an effort that has “touched so many people without that being the intent.”
“It was a selflessness that Ethan displayed of wanting to help the community without looking for recognition in any form, and that to us, is what really makes us proud of what he’s done,” Terry Tasior said. “It’s great that he’s able to bring back attention to those who have helped serve and protect our country.”
To date, Ethan Tasior has recorded 2,069 veteran headstones at Woodlawn. He hopes to include the more than 2,500 veterans at the cemetery and continue to keep the database up to date.
Once Ethan Tasior learned the cemetery didn’t have as much support for Wreaths Across America, he added supporting the event to his efforts.
Horizon West American Legion Post 419 had taken over Wreaths Across America efforts at Woodlawn after another post asked if they would get involved. In the legion’s first year at Woodlawn in 2023, the legion had taken over only two weeks before the event. Jess Makin, the Horizon West legion’s second vice commander, said the post only had 250 wreaths.
With a year to work toward Wreaths Across America Day in 2024, the legion increased its efforts to spread awareness and was able to raise enough money and receive donations for 850 wreaths.
Ethan Tasior raised enough money to purchase 150 wreaths himself. Makin said Ethan Tasior’s work was “probably the biggest part” of the post reaching 850 wreaths last year.
Makin said the post would like to eventually have enough wreaths for all of the more than 2,500 veteran gravestones at Woodlawn.
Makin said participating in Wreaths Across America Day is “one of the most humbling” activities someone can do each year. She once worked at a national cemetery, which is how she initially was introduced to the effort. She helped the families coordinate services for their loved one.
“It was so touching to see and hear all the other stories of what military families went through, and it became, to me, just a personal thing of I may not have known every veteran that comes through the cemetery or that’s placed at different cemeteries, but it’s a way to give back to veterans who have served,” she said.
On National Wreaths Across America Day, which is Saturday, Dec. 13, this year, the Horizon West American Legion Post 419 members and volunteers will gather at Woodlawn Cemetery. From 9 to 11 a.m., people will place wreaths on veterans’ graves. At 11 a.m., there will be a short ceremony to talk about the wreaths and their importance as well as an honor ceremony to honor each military branch.
“It’s a time to sit back and remember why we all get to do the things we do,” Makin said. “This year and a lot of years prior to this have been very tough on everybody in the country, and it’s just something to stop and give back and think, ‘There are people that have got us to where we are and have supported and sacrificed for this country so we can still have the privileges we do have.’”
At each gravesite, someone will personally place a wreath on each headstone and say the name and the branch in which the veteran served and salute the veteran.
“It’s an out loud calling of something to say, ‘Hey, we still remember you. You’re not forgotten,’” Makin said. “That’s just something that’s always stuck with me.”
