Volunteers fabric quilts out of gratitude for veterans’ service

Five veterans from the Reata Glen Retirement Community in Mission Viejo, including two who served during World War II, were blanketed with an extra layer of warmth and comfort as a gesture of gratitude for their service to their country.

Dozens of Reata Glen residents filled the community’s meeting hall as “quilts of valor” were wrapped around the shoulders of the five honorees, the highlight of the retirement community’s annual Veterans Day ceremony.

The nonprofit Quilts of Valor Foundation is responsible for sewing more than 427,000 of the special blankets since 2003. On Tuesday, the quilts were presented to the veterans by the Reata Glen residents who spent the past year crafting the gift.

One of the quilts went to Robert DeLue, who will turn 99 on Nov.18. He served as a corporal in the Army during World War II after enlisting at age 17. He spent time in Japan and the Philippines, he said.

“I can appreciate (Veterans Day) because at my age, among the oldest here, I’m still so blessed with good health, happiness,” DeLue said. “I’ve never been happier than I am now.”

DeLue, who has been married to his wife Rita for 65 years, had family members with him at the quilt ceremony.

“I’m so blessed and so proud of my dad today and always,” DeLue’s daughter, Renee Sampedro, said.  “And it’s such an honor to see him honored.”

Another honoree, Stan Solin, 95, is a Korean War veteran who served in the Army’s Counterintelligence Corps. He said he participated in about 2,000 investigations during his three-year assignment.

“Anything the Department of the Army wanted investigated of an intelligence nature, guys like me did it,” Solin said. “We didn’t wear uniforms.  The government gave us $300 to go out and buy civilian clothes.”

Despite serving a vital role during the war, Solin said he felt slightly “embarrassed” to be honored, because he “didn’t duck any bullets.”

Other Reata Glen residents presented with Quilts of Valor included World War II Navy veteran Robert Arnold and Korean War veterans Don Lundholm, who served in the Navy, and Mel Clisby, who was in the Air Force.

Close to 20 Reta Glen residents spent the past year sewing the quilts presented Tuesday, said Joanne Schaum, a longtime quilter who helped start the program at the retirement community.

Aware of the Quilts of Valor Foundation, Schaum first set out to make blankets for her husband and a friend, both Vietnam veterans, as a gesture of gratitude. When the veterans were approved through the Quilts of Valor nominating process, Schaum and a friend crafted the quilts through a local chapter and presented them as part of a small ceremony.

Then the idea grew to honoring five veterans of the community each year. Now, Schaum and Reata Glen resident Marion Yerxa, wife of Korean War veteran Steve Yerxa, are the project’s co-directors.

“It was done out of love and respect and admiration,” Yerxa said. “We either have spouses or we were in military families and so recognizing and thanking veterans is something that was very near and dear to our heart.”