The Forest Acres Quilting Club was once again honored to be a part of the Freeman Public School’s Veteran’s Day Assembly on Monday, November 13th. This was the eighth year that our club has awarded Quilts of Valor to area veterans touched by war at this venue. As of November 1, 2023, 359,727 Quilts of Valor have been awarded.
The assembly began with the presentation of the colors by the Adams American Legion Post 221 and Burrows-DeBoer VFW Post 10042. The National Anthem was sung by the Freeman High School Choir and the Kindergarten class led the audience in the Pledge of Allegiance. The VFW recognized the high school seniors who placed in the annual Voice of Democracy contest as well as the 8th grade students who placed in the Patriot Pen contest. The winner of the Patriot Pen contest, Ila Havelka, then presented her winning speech. This was followed by the Freeman High School Choir’s performance of “Carry The Light”.
Next on the program was the awarding of Quilts of Valor to three veterans from our area, Jason Hellige of Filley, Diane Richardson of Adams, and Adam Schaaf also of Adams. Jason served in the United States Marine Corps from July 2007 to July 2013. Six months after completing basic training in San Diego, he was deployed to Iraq as part of a military transitional team that was tasked to train the Iraqi Army. He was next assigned to Afghanistan as a part of security convoys along the Sangin Valley. At his discharge He had attained the rank of Corporal.
Jason’s quilt is from a pattern called A Cut Above found in the October 2022 edition of the American Patchwork and Quilting magazine. We made the blocks smaller than indicated in the pattern so that we could use fabric from a layer cake - also known as 10” squares. I stitched a design called Star-Spangled All-Over using gold thread to bring out the gold in the fabrics.
Diane Richardson served in the United States Navy from May 1969 to March 1972. She attended basic training at Braindeage, Maryland and was then assigned to Pautent River Maryland Naval Base. There she was trained in air operations where she scheduled flights for search and rescue missions as well as scheduling pilots and crews for flight duties. She was discharged with a rank of E3.
Diane’s quilt is from a kit called American Pride that we purchased from Connecting Threads. It features twelve flag blocks in a variety of floral prints which was perfect for our female veteran. I stitched an all-over star design using a light beige thread to finish this patriotic quilt.
Adam Schaaf is currently serving in the Nebraska Air National Guard having enlisted in 2003. After attending basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio he was trained as a military firefighter at the Garland Fire Academy in San Antonio. He used this training in two deployments - Kyrgyzstan in 2006 and Iraq in 2008. In 2019 he was deployed again to Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan where he was in charge of a group of 6-12 people who fought fires in various locations in that country. He has earned the rank of Master Sergeant and will retire from military service in January 2024.
Adam’s quilt is from a Jordan Fabrics pattern called New Year’s Star. We enjoyed putting these blocks together as they formed a unique star block as well as a secondary pattern when they were sewn together. I stitched an all-over swirl and star design called Stardust using white thread to complete this top
The Forest Acres Quilting Club were grateful to be able to share the mission of the Quilts of Valor Foundation and to honor veterans at an event attended by all of the Freeman K-12 students and staff as well as many members of our community.