Dianna, you bring up some interesting points.
Society has a way of celebrating the greatness of individuals - yet hardly ever do we forget that they were human and had other faults. This has really seemed to accelerate in more recent times with the rise of the press and literacy.
On a practical level, I think that when we memoralize someone's life they become a symbol of a particular quality and the celebration of that person's achievements helps to instill that attitude in society as a whole. If you wish for a little less Orwellian/Skinnerian language, we can say it reminds us of the qualities that we wish to become a part of us.
People have protested the celebration of Columbus' birthday, Martin Luther King's birthday,
even Thomas Jefferson's birthday. One can argue all they wish against the merits of celebrating any of these individuals but it is not the individual that is important but the key idea they represent. In Christopher Columbus' case for example, one can argue against all the ills that he brought the new world both on a personal and in an introductory way. People argue that since Columbus wasn't truly the first person to sail across the Atlantic there is no point in celebrating his life. Why do we celebrate Columbus' life? The answer is simple. Columbus is our chosen symbol for the beginning of migration to the Americas that changed the entire world in an enormous way. Martin Luther King is also symbolic of major changes in American society and stands as an excellent symbol for minority rights - simple rights now taken for granted like being able to stay in a hotel.
None of the people whose lives we celebrate are 100% responsible for the changes we associate with them and in fact they usually are not any more than a small percentage - but for the most part - they probably each stand as the best symbol for the qualities and concepts we
wish to celebrate.
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