By Howard Packowitz
BLOOMINGTON – It’s Red, White, and Blue Day in Unit 5 and District 87 schools as kids and teachers were asked to wear their patriotic best Friday in memory of Sgt. Josh Rodgers, the Bloomington U.S. Army Ranger killed by small arms fire last week in Afghanistan.
At McLean County’s largest employer, State Farm Insurance, the company’s military affinity group also asked employees to wear red, white, and blue, or some other patriotic attire. Both of Josh’s parents, Vonda and Kevin Rodgers, work at State Farm.
Local tributes begin Friday for Sgt. Rodgers, who graduated from Normal Community High School only four-years ago.
His casket is scheduled to arrive at 10 a.m. at Central Illinois Regional Airport, with an honor guard ceremony on the general aviation ramp at the old terminal on E. Empire St.
The public is allowed to see the arrival, the ceremony, and the motorcade as it leaves the airport before it proceeds to Kibler-Brady-Ruestman Funeral Home on North Main Street in Bloomington.
A public visitation is Saturday, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Eastview Christian Church on Airport Road in Normal. A celebration of life service will follow, and the police-escorted funeral procession will begin at about 2:30.
The public is invited to line the streets of the eight-and-a-half mile route from the church to Bloomington’s historic Evergreen Cemetery. Burial is private, and the cemetery will be closed to the public Saturday from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
