FRANKLIN—A local business owner is combining her talents and her love for her country to dress up local shop windows.

Gayle Schmitz, owner of Franklin Art & Frameworks, has made it her mission to remember servicemen and women by taking pictures of those people who have served the United States in the military and mounting and matting them to display downtown.

“I don’t think people realize what people in service to this country give up,” Schmitz said Monday. “We should remember them on a daily basis. I’m a lifetime member of the ladies auxiliary and an avid supporter of the troops and the veterans.”

Two of the first photos Schmitz put on display were of her uncles, Harold F. Nelson and Donald J. Nelson.

“He was thrilled when he saw it,” she said about her uncle, Don. “He thought it was wonderful.”

For those who are still serving or who are still alive, the placard on the mat reads simply, “Thank you for your service.”

Those who are deceased get a different saying: “To honor and remember his service to our country.”

Schmitz said she hopes people bring in photos to honor service men and women.

“It’s free. That’s the important thing,” she said. “I will mount as many as come in.”

For more information about the photo project, call 516-2660.