PRAYERS ON HIGH: Ronan sky is lit up with lanterns and prayers
<p>Tucker, 4, and his brother, Carter, 6, watch with childlike interest as their mother, Bonnie Eva, helps light a lantern before setting it skyward during the third annual Ronan Remembrance on Thursday, Dec. 18 at Ronan High School. More than 90 people donated $5 to set aloft a lantern to remember loved ones who can't be here for the holidays. The Ronan High School Student Council sponsored the event and collected more than $500, said advisor Bonnie Eva.</p>
<p>Flame-lighted lanterns soar above the Ronan High School parking lot Thursday (Dec. 18) during the third annual Ronan Remembrance. More than 90 people donated $5 to set aloft a lantern to remember loved ones who can't be here for the holidays. The Ronan High School Student Council sponsored the event and collected more than $500, said advisor Bonnie Eva. Vince Lovato / Leader photo</p>
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<p>Kohl Lawson, 17, a Ronan High School student, releases a lantern to remember his grandmother, Lorena Lawson, during the third annual Ronan Remembrance on Thursday, Dec. 18 at Ronan High School. More than 90 people donated $5 to set aloft a lantern to remember loved ones who can't be here for the holidays. The Ronan High School Student Council sponsored the event and collected more than $500, said advisor Bonnie Eva. Vince Lovato / Leader photo</p>
<p>Kohl Lawson, 17, a Ronan High School student, releases a lantern to remember his grandmother, Lorena Lawson, during the third annual Ronan Remembrance on Thursday, Dec. 18 at Ronan High School. More than 90 people donated $5 to set aloft a lantern to remember loved ones who can't be here for the holidays. The Ronan High School Student Council sponsored the event and collected more than $500, said advisor Bonnie Eva. Vince Lovato / Leader photo</p>
<p>A lantern remembering Cyril Ross floats silently above the Ronan High School parking lot during the third annual Ronan Remembrance on Thursday, Dec. 18. More than 90 people donated $5 to set aloft a lantern to remember loved ones who can't be here for the holidays. The Ronan High School Student Council sponsored the event and collected more than $500, said advisor Bonnie Eva. Vince Lovato / Leader photo</p>
<p>Ronan ASB Advisor Bonnie Eva, left, and ASB member Jessie Lewis release a lantern during the third annual Ronan Remembrance on Thursday, Dec. 18 at Ronan High School. More than 90 people donated $5 to set aloft a lantern to remember loved ones who can't be here for the holidays. The Ronan High School Student Council sponsored the event and collected more than $500, said advisor Bonnie Eva. Vince Lovato / Leader photo</p>
<p>ASB member Jenaya Burns, left, and advisor Bonnie Eva prepare to launch a lantern during the third annual Ronan Remembrance on Thursday, Dec. 18 at Ronan High School. More than 90 people donated $5 to set aloft a lantern to remember loved ones who can't be here for the holidays. The Ronan High School Student Council sponsored the event and collected more than $500, said advisor Bonnie Eva. Vince Lovato / Leader photo</p>
Charlo’s Marian Dunnwebber wanted to spread the holiday cheer across the Mission Valley.
And some of it even got to China.
Dunnwebber donated $65 to the Ronan High School ASB so she could launch 15 paper lanterns in remembrance of loved ones who could not be here during Christmastime.
“I saw the announcement on Facebook,” Dunnwebber said.
The Ronan High School ASB sponsors the Ronan Remembrance to raise money and give donors a chance to honor loved ones who passed away or are far removed from Lake County.
Dunwebber’s daughter, Deb Wickum, who lives in Chester but grew up in the Mission Valley, told her mom that she should do it for everyone they know.
“And I said no problem. I can take care of it,” Dunnwebber said.
She said she launched a lantern for her mom and dad, Roy and Charity Taber, who arrived in the valley in 1920s and lived on the Round Butte Ranch for decades.
“You’re just honoring people,” Dunnwebber said.
Marilyn Dolezal is a 6-foot-tall, elegant woman who worked as a substitute teacher at Ronan schools for more than 30 years. Dressed in her full-length white coat, green-and-red muffler and topped with silvery hair, she could have easily passed as Mrs. Claus.
This was the first time she participated and she only sent up one lantern but it had a lot of work to do.
“I’m sending it up because my son is in China running his business there,” she said.
Her son, Alan Dolezal, 42, is a 1989 Ronan High School graduate whose company manufactures e-cigarettes, she said.
Her husband, Hawk, graduated from Ronan 40 years earlier. He was waiting in the heated car while dozens braved the chilly night to send off their lanterns.
Uriah, 6, Hadassah, 4, and father, Levi Read, launched a lantern for the children’s grandfather.
Kohl Lawson, a 17-year-old Ronan High student, sent one up for his grandmother, Lorena Lawson, who was born and raised in Mission.
Carter, 6, and his brother, Tucker, 4, seemed enchanted by the event.
“When you look into the sky you can see it,” said Carter of watching the lanterns sail upward. “But when you look away they disappear.”
He made sure to tell everyone that he was, “named after my first stuffed animal.”
Bonnie Eva thought up the event three years ago from several influences including a remembrance ball for a Christmas tree and a July 4 festival where lanterns were launched just for fun.
The first year was good, but this time the ASB sold more than 90 lanterns and collected about $500 in donations, she said.
“The event is just growing,” Eva said. “We’ve had people coming off the highway to see what was going on.”
The ASB uses the money for pep assemblies, scholarships, field trips and other things.
To be safe and green, the ASB uses biodegradable lanterns that burn away when the fire dies out.