by Malcolm Butler
Twelve local veterans received a small token of appreciation for their service to their country last week during the 15th annual Quilters for America’s Heroes ceremony held at Northern Louisiana Medical Center.
The mission of this group is to present these heirloom quilts once a year, around Veterans Day in November, to local veterans who have served our country so bravely.
This year’s recipients are Peggy P. Hale, Ronald Hale, Sr., Chris Letendre, Edward Glenn Lewis, Robert May, Chris Mouk, Dan Page, Stanley Parker, Robert Irving Thompson, Jason Walsh and Eric Watson.
“It is an honor to present these local veterans with these personalized quilts,” said Tami Davis, Director of Marketing and Business Development at Northern Louisiana Medical Center. “We look forward to the event each year. It is very heartwarming to see these brave men and women honored. These quilts are just a very small token of our great appreciation for all their service and dedication to our country.”
According to Suzy Broussard, who is President of the Quilters for America’s Heroes local chapter, nominations for recipients are taken each year and then chosen. The only criteria is that they are from the north Louisiana area and are veterans.
“We have had years where we only presented 11 quilts because that was all the nominations we had,” said Broussard. “A couple of years we had 13 because we got a World War II veteran at the last minute, and we didn’t want to wait a year.”
The group honored Louisiana’s oldest living veteran Sam Mattox a few years ago. Mattox, who was in attendance last Friday at the city’s Veterans Day event, is 106 years old.
Broussard said the idea came from the Quilts of Valor, a national event.
“With those quilts, you make them under their guidelines and then you mail them somewhere,” said Broussard. “You don’t have any idea who is getting that quilt which is okay. But we knew we had veterans right here in north Louisiana so why not engage our local veterans for their service. That’s when we approached Tami (Davis at Northern Louisiana Medical Center) with the idea of doing it on a more local level.
“Tami and the hospital were all on board with the idea and very excited to team up with us for the event.”
Each quilt is personalized for the veteran, including name, dates of service, and what branch of service. They even include a purple heart if the veteran received such an honor.
“They are personalized for each veteran, and no two are the same,” said Davis.
Members of The Quilters for America’s Heroes are Broussard, Cathy Barron, Avis Miller, Elaine Johnson, Gloria Simpson and Barbara Lindy.
Individuals who wish to nominate a veteran for this can email Broussard at suzyanne51@yahoo.com or Davis at tami.davis@ahmgt.com.
