Honoring our Veterans

The rendering of Military Honors is the one thing, the last thing, that funeral directors can do to support those who have served. Many times, veterans are not recognized as they should and need to be during their life following their military service. The least we can do to help is give them a respectful and honorable burial, since they always deserve the utmost respect and honor.

Arrington Funeral Directors has always supported our veterans. Many of our staff were not able to serve in the military, and we desire to serve those with whom we were not able to serve.

Robert Jones, Command Sergeant Major (CSM) E-9, Retired, and Eddie Long, Director of Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery in Parkers Crossroads, approached Bob with the idea of a coin that could be presented to families during the flag presentation at the cemetery. The intention behind this project is to provide families with a tangible memento that they can hold and carry with them, honoring and keeping the memory of their veteran with them at all times.

After several meetings, the specific design of the custom coin began and several options were reviewed.

During one meeting, Jones stated they would need two or three sponsors to make the project happen. Arrington Funeral Directors believes in supporting veterans in any way we can, and so we offered to sponsor the entire project. We wanted to ensure these challenge coins were able to reach all veteran families buried in Parkers Crossroads Cemetery.

In September 2021, Parkers Crossroads became the first cemetery in the state of Tennessee to offer these challenge coins to veteran families. On the day the coins became available, a media announcement was held, attended by representatives from the State Veterans Office and other local veteran organizations.

When other state veterans cemeteries learned about the coins, they reached out with a desire to offer their own version of coins to their cemetery’s veteran families. 

We are proud and honored to share that all veterans cemeteries in Tennessee now have their own challenge coins, and it all began with the vision of Arrington Funeral Directors and Tennessee State Veterans Cemetery at Parkers Crossroads.

Due to the positive reception of the challenge coins at veterans cemeteries, Arrington Funeral Directors decided to commission our own custom challenge coins to be presented to the families we serve whose veteran is not being buried in a veterans cemetery. This decision has proved to be very appreciated by the families and has demonstrated another way we serve families with the utmost care and respect.