Gold Star mothers bring message to Marco DAR

“We’ve all heard the term, ‘Gold Star Mother,’” Lee-Ann Forsythe told Marco Island’s DAR members. “It simply refers to any mother who has lost a child in the service of our country.”

Forsythe is National Service Officer of the national American Gold Star Mothers (AGSM) and is the SWFL Chapter 1st VP and Treasurer. She spoke to the Marco Island Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) meeting February 8th at the Marco Lutheran Church.

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Forsythe is active in the organization to honor her son, LCpl. Marc Leeland Plotts, who died at age 20 in March of 2010. He served in Iraq and died after a training exercise in Hawaii where he was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan. A third-generation marine, he followed in the footsteps of his mother (Lee-Ann) his father and his uncle.

“We were drawn to the Corps and what it represents,” she recalled. “The family joke is that Marc said ‘Marine Corps’ before he said ‘Mom.’  His room was decorated in Scarlet and Gold and he had WWII USMC posters on his walls for years before he left for bootcamp.”

LCpl. Plotts was awarded the National Defense Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.

Lee-Ann said that working with American Gold Star Mothers, “has given me the ability to continue the service that Marc and my father and I began.  I have the honor of continuing Marc’s service to the military community he loved.”

Lee-Ann said of losing her son, “There is nothing like the heartbreak of losing a child. The pain is emotional and physical. It does not, as the old saying goes, get easier with time. You just learn how to live your new normal.”

She said the Gold Star Mothers, “strive to keep the memory of our sons and daughters alive by working to help veterans with material and financial support and to help active-duty military, their families and communities.”

Forsythe is the mother of four boys, grandmother of six children.  She and her husband, Buzz, live in Cape Coral.

Also hearing her message at the DAR meeting were Marco American Legion Post 404 veterans who participated in the December 18th, 2021 Wreaths Across America Ceremony at the Marco Island Cemetery.

To learn more about American Gold Star Mothers of Southwest Florida, visit https://www.goldstarmothersswfl.org/ or call agsmofswfl@gmail.com

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DAR is a service organization with 180,000 members in three-thousand chapters worldwide. Members are women eighteen years or older, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, who can prove lineal descent from a patriot in the American Revolution.

Monthly DAR meetings are at 10:30 a.m., on the third Thursday of each month, followed by lunch. Members also meet casually between meetings, just for friendship and fun. The chapter has 75 members and welcomes visitors from other chapters. Contact Ellen Camm, ellencammg@gmail.com, 317-372-1174.