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WinterSpring holds alternative service photo by Drew Fleming People deal with loss of loved without military motif By JONEL ALECCIA Planes soared, cars roared, basketballs bounced through hoops. In a nearby field, cows lowed and horses strolled, enjoying the late-spring sun. In short, life went on Sunday afternoon at Medford�s Donahue-Frohnmayer Park, even as two dozen people gathered under the shelter of seven oaks to remember loved ones lost. ``I want to help other people feel better,�� said Breonna Sortland, 12, a volunteer with WinterSpring of Medford. ``I know what it�s like to have someone die.�� Breonna lost her father, Lee Sortland, five years ago to liver disease. The Talent Middle School student was among the youngest in a group that included MarAbel Frohnmayer, widow of civic leader Otto Frohmayer, who died in January. "I recently lost my husband, so it seemed right to come," she said. The memorial gathering, titled "Seasons of the Heart," was a complement or an alternative to traditional Memorial Day weekend ceremonies, said Donna Taylor, director of WinterSpring. Across Jackson County this weekend, people erected flags and flowers on graves of military personnel. The action honors Memorial Day, the last Monday in May, designated in 1869 to honor war dead. But the holiday has come to be a time to remember people lost outside of battle as well. Newcomers to an area or those whose loved ones have been cremated often have no physical place to mourn, Taylor noted. And even those whose family members rest in traditional cemeteries sometimes need another way to grieve. "It�s a place and an event that sets that time apart for memory," she said. Sunday�s ceremony included music by lute-player Steve Berman and soprano Susan Sawatsky, as well as readings by Taylor. The low-key event was a comfort, said Monica Breedlove, whose 17-year-old son, Jon, died in a 1997 car wreck. "It�s a place where you can cry and say the things you want to say, without people saying, �Aren�t you over that yet?�" said Breedlove, 50, of Medford. "You never get over it." As the ceremony concluded, Breedlove�s daughter, Megan, 10, helped Breonna hand out flowers and stalks of wheat for mourners to keep. The wheat symbolized the continuity of life, said Taylor, who added a pitch for the nonprofit agency�s $20,000 fund-raising campaign. The center offers free support and information to people confronted with life-threatening illness and grief. "Every person here has had help when they needed it," Taylor said. "That�s why this is so important." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA