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Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Exceptional women
5
By JIM HART
Pamplin Media Group
A
mong the exceptional women of the
Veterans of Foreign Wars Ladies
Auxiliary at Post No. 4273 in Sandy
is one who leads the charge to give
veterans in their declining years a little love
and care.
That care comes in the form of a quilt for
their bed and some new personal items such
as socks.
This group of five sewers is making quilts
at the rate of about 100 every year, sending
them out every week to hospitals and rest
homes where veterans are served.
Leading this group is a woman who is dedi-
cated and committed to giving beyond expec-
tation.
This exceptional woman, Jewell Lamb, has
been quilting for veterans for at least 13
years, and now guides four other quilters
while they make heart-warming gifts for yes-
terday’s heroes.
The women are as thrifty as possible, and
seek donations from all sources. They con-
duct fundraisers in order to buy the materials
they cannot get donated such as the batting
for the center of each quilt. Batting, Lamb
said, costs more than $200 for one roll. So they
look for coupons and sales at local stores.
They also peruse garage sales to find mate-
rials that will become part of a quilt or anoth-
er item of a veteran’s need.
The penny-pinching women search for the
lowest price available, calling themselves “mi-
sers” when they buy materials they need.
The group Lamb leads includes Ruby
Watts, Betty Haider, Jackie Talbert and Bar-
bara Miller.
Along with rummage sales, the VFWLadies
Auxiliary conducts fund-raisers such as break-
fasts and dinners using donated food. The fun-
draising benefits the quilters equally with the
women who bake cookies for veterans.
Cookies and quilts and other personal items
are shipped together for veterans at hospitals
and rest homes.
The women also buy packages of socks
when they’re on sale, and
they include in their
shipments of quilts other
items that veterans ap-
preciate and need such
as handmade neck pil-
lows, wheelchair covers
and something they call
“ditty bags,” which are
needed for hospitalized
vets.
The Sandy women also
serve veterans in the
Portland Veterans Ad-
ministration hospital by
going to the hospital and
delivering gifts to all who
have a birthday in May. Other VFW auxilia-
ries visit the hospital in other months for the
same purpose.
Watts, now 85, has been working with quilts
as a volunteer for veterans for 18 years.
“I retired from this,” she said, “but Jewell
needed help, so I came back. And you know
this is such a good project.”
Ruby’s husband was in the veterans’ hospi-
tal before he died, “and the women came up
with their afghans and shoes and caps, and we
really appreciated it,” she said. “So when he
passed away, I decided this was going to be my
project. I’m going to make quilts — and I have
been here ever since.”
The group of Ladies Auxiliary members
usually makes three quilts during the two
hours they work each week, and for the year
more than 100 quilts are constructed for veter-
ans.
Lamb says this work is a way she can offer
thanks for the dedicated service the veterans
gave for this country.
“Our husbands were all involved,” Lamb
said. “They (veterans) served our country, and
they deserve some type of recognition. We
make quilts for them, and that’s our little thank
you.”
Because she is nearly 15 years older than
Lamb, Watts has a different memory of the
veterans when they were young enough to
participate in war exercises.
Watts remembers when the young soldiers
were going off toWorldWar II. They came into
town on the train and headed toward the bar-
racks that her father had helped build. She was
13 years old at that time, and was inspired by
their courage.
“There were 800 of them coming in on the
train,” she said, “and they were all so good
looking and healthy. But now they’re old, and it
seems like there ought to be somebody who
takes an interest in them. I think they need
special attention, especially those who don’t
have a family.”
Jean Bettencourt, another VFWAuxiliary
member who bakes cookies and makes lots of
small items that veterans in hospitals and
homes like, says that Lamb has been in charge
of the quilters even before Bettencourt started
working with them.
Lamb is one of the most committed to giving
to veterans, said Bettencourt.
“It’s her sense of commitment to getting the
quilts out on time and ready for the hospitals
on a weekly basis (transported with cookies
each Thursday),” Bettencourt said. “This has
been a long-time commitment for her.”
Bettencourt, who visits veterans in Portland
every week, echoed the feelings of all of the
women about the veterans they serve.
“When you go into their rooms and visit
with them,” she said, “they’re so happy that
you’ve come to see them— that you care about
them. They’re just grateful, and it just makes
your heart soar.”
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■
VFW volunteers from Sandy create quilts that
warm the bodies and hearts of veterans
A trio of VFW Ladies
Auxiliary quilters works in
unison, hand-tying across
the single-bed size
blanket. Pictured, from
left, are Jewell Lamb,
Betty Haider and Ruby
Watts. Not pictured from
this quilting group are
Jackie Talbert and
Barbara Miller.
PHOTO BY JIM HART
Grateful women
touch
lonely hearts
“They
(veterans)
served our
country, and
they deserve
some type of
recognition. ”
— Jewell Lamb, VFW
Ladies Auxiliary
member in Sandy