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At Arlington, nearly 1,000 people were on hand to meet them and help distribute the wreaths among the graves of more than 250,000 U.S. soldiers. On hand, too, were camera crews and reporters from every major television network, newspaper and radio station, both national and international. Arlington cemetery officials confided there were more media present to cover the 2006 event than appear when the U.S. President visits. “Far different than when we started,” says 57-year old Morrill Worcester, owner of the Worcester Wreath Company, one of the nation’s largest suppliers of live Christmas wreaths and table decorations. Headquartered in Harrington, the company counts global retailer L.L.Bean as one of its biggest customers, an association that goes back 25 years, Worcester notes with pride. 
There were no crowds or escorts when Worcester began the tradition 16 years ago – only Worcester, along with one of his sons and two other gentlemen from Harrington. At the national cemetery they met a group of approximately 20 volunteers who had agreed to come out and help the man from Maine distribute his 4,000 surplus Christmas wreaths. The weather was pretty miserable that rainy day, Worcester recalls, but the group went to work, unloading the wreaths and carefully placing each against the grave stones. It took six hours to complete the task.“That first year – when I had the wreaths left over – people didn’t understand what I was trying to do,” he remembers. “They really didn’t.” Worcester was born and raised in rural Maine – in fact, his Harrington office is just twelve miles from Jonesport, the town where he was born. “We were reasonably poor,” he recounts, “and we moved around a lot.” His father, a strong influence in his life, always encouraged his son to work hard and do as much as possible, and both of his parents made certain he attended college at the University of Maine. He was just 21 years old when he purchased 500 wreaths from area women who had made the live decorative items in their homes. He re-sold the wreaths in Boston, marking the early start of what would become the Worcester Wreath Company. This year, 36 Christmas seasons later, the company will produce more than a half million wreaths with a year-round workforce of 45 that swells to 600 in the eight weeks leading into the holiday season. In addition to wreaths, Worcester also has an asphalt company and a peat business. “In America, the harder you work, the better you can do. It doesn’t happen like that everywhere,” he says. At the age of 12, Worcester was a “paperboy” for the Bangor Daily News, and always industrious, won a trip to Washington D.C. when the newspaper sponsored a contest. He was one of about 50 others who hit targeted goals in new subscription sales for an opportunity to tour the nation’s capitol back in 1962. Of the many sites visited, Arlington National Cemetery made an indelible impression on the young boy. Worcester would like to say he realized even then the enormity of what the cemetery represented, but admits at that age it had more to do with the cemetery’s massive size, striking appearance and impressive ceremony. The appreciation for the dedication of the men and women interred there would come later as he began to enjoy success in his own business endeavors. Over the years, he developed a deep sense of gratitude for those who had given so much – whether through years of service or with the ultimate sacrifice – to ensure the freedoms that afforded him the opportunities to succeed. Page 2 |
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