SULTAN — Christina Nelson is taking on a patriotic project of her own. And she’s readying it in time for Sultan’s Veterans Day celebration.
Nelson, 48, is engaged to Dave Sivewright, the Army Sgt. 1st Class known for running through the Skykomish Valley in uniform carrying a large American flag. While Sivewright shares his patriotic pride with each stride, Nelson envisions a spectacle that stays in place.
She is raising $7,000 to line Sultan’s Main Street with American flags on special occasions. Nelson sees the stars and stripes in Monroe as she commutes to her job as a site operator for WorkSource. But she noticed that Old Glory was missing from Sultan’s downtown.
“I just wanted to bring a little pride to Sultan,” Nelson said.
She got the green light for her project from the City Council in August. Eventually, she wants to put 96 flags up along Main Street, from First Street to U.S. 2.
Nelson is taking donations for that effort. Those who contribute $30 to her project will have their names engraved on a brass plates that go with the flags. People can donate on the American flag project gofundme page or at any Coastal Community Bank.
Two organizations have offered to pay for the project, but she turned them down.
“It was meant to represent our community, our veterans and our local businesses,” Nelson said. “I want to see 96 brass plates with 96 names.”
So far, she’s raised more than $3,100, enough to get the stars and stripes up along about half of Main Street. That’s 48 three-by-five-foot American flags flying on 12-foot poles above Sultan.
Nelson was determined to have them in place for the city’s Veterans Day ceremony. She and Sivewright, 53, are co-chairs of the committee that puts on the event. It is set for 11 a.m. Tuesday at the Sultan veterans memorial wall on Main Street.
Nelson expects to complete her project by Martin Luther King Day on Jan. 19. Once that happens, Sultan residents should be able to place worn flags in a clear plastic bags on top of their garbage bins. Nelson arranged for city workers to take them to the local Veterans of Foreign Wars or the Boy Scouts for disposal. Those groups have volunteered to bury or burn the flags properly once the program is in place.
“A lot of people don’t know how to retire their flags respectfully,” Nelson said.
She was inspired to take on the project by her fiance. The soldier holds a five-pound flag as he jogs half a dozen miles down U.S. 2. He canters in his camo battalion uniform and combat boots, despite pouring rain or blazing sun. Nelson said she wanted to expand on his effort.
“It’s a prideful thing,” she said. “It’s just what Dave and I do.”
The couple got engaged last Christmas Day after taking a circuitous route to romance. Sivewright met Nelson online while he was deployed in Kuwait. To ease his homesickness, she started sending him daily photos of people from all walks of life holding a sign that read: “Good Morning Dave.” She would email up to 30 photos of various people she enlisted in a particular day, such as the Pepsi guy, a rock band or the high school choir.
After five months of exchanging messages and photos, they arranged to meet. Nelson stood Sivewright up the first time but he mustered the courage to ask her out again about a month later.
Now the couple are raising five teenage boys together in Sultan. Their wedding is set for March 28. Nelson said she is working to convince Sivewright to get married at the miniature Wayside Chapel on U.S. 2. Their colors, of course, are red, white and blue.
Nelson said it’s hard to pinpoint what drives their patriotic spirit. But one thing is for certain: They don’t take their liberty for granted.
“We’re just so fortunate in the USA, to have the freedoms we have,” she said. “I’m proud to be an American.”
Amy Nile: 425-339-3192; anile@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @AmyNileReports.
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