Of the 67 bugle calls published by Carl Fischer, I have sounded six in public, plus “Echo Taps.” But until the morning of Saturday, 12 July 2025, at a memorial service, I had never had the opportunity to perform “Church Call.” The service was for Merlin D. Staatz at Open Door Baptist Church in Lynnwood (https://opendoorbaptist.com/). My “Church Call” opened the service, and my “Taps” helped close it.

In the afternoon, I sounded “Taps” for Gerald “Jerry” L. Seldon, Sr. at Nile Shrine Center in Mountlake Terrace (https://nileshriners.org/). It was a Masonic service, the second one in which I’ve ever participated. Inscribed on the statue in front of the clubhouse is this: “A man never stands so tall as when he stoops to help a Child.”

Each ceremony attracted about 100 friends and relatives. They were honorable men who served our country and on whose shoulders we stand. Regrettably, I know nothing of Seldon’s military service. Staatz was born in 2026 and was 99 years old when he passed in June. According to the program, he “served in the Philippines during the last year of World War II, sleeping in foxholes and leading his unit as a scout as they tried to take back the island of Luzon, one hillside at a time. He was awarded a Purple Heart. A week after Japan surrendered, he was stationed near Tokyo.”

At each of these two events, the flag presentation ceremony was performed by the Color Guard of the Shoreline unit of the U.S. Volunteers-Joint Service Command (USV-JSC) (https://www.usvjsc.org/). With these two, my “Taps” performances now total 245. I use my Getzen bugle.