Above, Gary Beikirch at a book signing; at right,
the Medal of Honor motrocade arrives in Gainesville.
“It’s always been one of the special times of the year,”
Beikirch said of visiting the Medal of Honor Host City
Program. He said the Gainesville community not only re-
spects the military’s highest award for valor, but residents
are able to look beyond the medal and connect with recipi-
ents as everyday people.
“One of the things that us as recipients believe is that
we’re not all that special. The Medal of Honor is special.
But we’re not special, we’re just ordinary. To be around
people who accept you for being who you are, that’s re-
freshing.”
He said he hasn’t always been able to attend the festivi-
ties in town because of working at a middle school. Other
recipients described Gainesville as one of the most “wel-
coming, sincere, hospitable places in the country,” accord-
ing to Beikirch.
“Unfortunately, for all those years that I was working I
never was able to get to Gainesville because it always fell
right in April and our spring break never really aligned
[with] when they were having the events in Gainesville,”
he said.
Beikirch said he believes it was the last year he was
working that he took some time off to come to Cooke
County and check the MOHCP out. He retired “around
2014,” he said.
“And since then, I have been out there oh, perhaps four
or five years in a row,” Beikirch said. “We’ve become very
close with the people out there …It was almost like a re-
union getting out there ... My wife and I are going to miss
that.”
Beikirch said he’s been busy attending other Medal of
Honor-related events since his last visit to town for the
MOHHCP, sharing testimony at churches and speak-
ing at schools across the country as part of the Medal of
Honor Society’s Character Development Program. He had
planned on sharing some of his life’s lessons with Gaines-
ville area students and bringing a message of friendship.
“One of the biggest things for us is getting out to the
school systems and talking to students,” Beikirch said.
“Most of us keep a pretty busy schedule, but we look for-
ward to those events like Gainesville where we have an op-
portunity to get together.”
He also wrapped up a book he’s been working on with
author Marcus Brotherton called “Blaze of Light,” he said.
The book was released March 24.
As of mid-March, the Vietnam veteran and his wife of
45 years, Loreen “Lolly” Beikirch, were quarantined inside
their home in New York. The Beikirchs decided to stay
home after an employee of Greece Arcadia Middle School
tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the
new coronavirus. Beikirch, who worked at the school as a
counselor for 33 years, had visited the campus the day be-
fore the positive test in Monroe County, he said.
As of press time, Beikirch said he and his 64-year-old
wife planned on staying quarantined “at least until the be-
ginning of April.”
Despite being homebound, Beikirch said he and his
wife are going to continue to live life to its fullest.
“We’re going to try to continue to make a difference in
the lives of people as much as we can,” Beikirch said. “For
us, that’s what living is about.”
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