Quilts of Valor

Saturday, February 8, 2020

Submitted photos

Several local veterans were wrapped in Quilts of Valor recently for their meritorious service. Amy Martin, local Quilts of Valor presenter, bestowed the honors respectively to each of the men before family and friends. The quilts are pieced locally and finished by a long-arm machinist. The Quilts of Valor Foundation is a national organization founded in 2003 by “Blue Star” mom Catherine Roberts after experiencing a dream about her son. Since that dream, thousands of quilters all over the United States work daily to create quilts to cover warriors from all conflicts, including World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'; min-height: 9.0px} Alan Arceneaux was recently presented a Quilt of Valor for his service with the U.S. Air Force from 1989 to 2012. Leisa Allen made the quilt for her Calsonic-Marelli co-worker.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'} North Fork Baptist Church members recently honored Donald Richard McKamey for his service in the U.S. Marines from 1966 to 1968. That honor included a Quilt of Valor, presented by Amy Martin. Attending the presentation were his three sons.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'} The late Fred Thomas Davis Sr., who served during World War II from 1944-1946, was presented with a Quilt of Valor earlier this year. Sadly, the well-known retired rural mail carrier passed away Jan. 13 at age 94.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'; min-height: 9.0px} Jimmy Lewis Smith was recently presented with a Quilt of Valor while on his way to Branson, Missouri. He served his country through the U.S. Army from 1968 to 1974.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'} Veteran Marlin Blackburn served his country in the U.S. Navy from 1944 to 1946. His son, Myron Virgil Blackburn, followed his dad in military service in the U.S. Army from 1981 to 1992.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'} Myles Damon Brothers, retired Tennessee Army National Guard veteran, was recently presented a Quilt of Valor by Community students Angelina Blair and Joseph Cagle ā€” one which their fashion design class made. A Community High School graduate, Brothers served from 1970 to 1977 and from 1987 to 2010.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'} Recent Quilt of Valor recipient, Ricky Lee McConnell, served in the Tennessee National Guard from 1994 to 2014, and during that time participated in a tour in Iraq. He is a retired chief of Shelbyville Fire Department.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; text-align: justify; line-height: 10.0px; font: 9.0px 'ITC Franklin Gothic'} William Aulden Raby is a proud World War II veteran, having served with the U.S. Army from 1944 to 1946. He was humbled, he said, by his new Quilt of Valor.