Long before the pandemic hit last March 2020 the Forest Acres Quilting Club was making plans to award Quilts of Valor to two veterans who have ties to the Adams area. The presentations were to happen at the annual Memorial Day service at the Highland Cemetery and the family was planning a big reunion for that weekend. As happened with so many things last spring those arrangements were canceled.
Fast forward to March 2021 and the quilting club still had in mind to award quilts to these two veterans. Since one of the intended recipients has endured some health issues in the past year and has been unable to travel the quilting club knew they would need to make some accommodations. As a result we made plans to try an award ceremony via Zoom. One quilt was mailed to California and the other quilt made its way to Utah. And on Saturday, April 24th, eleven months after our original presentation was planned, the Quilts of Valor were finally awarded. Approximately 25 people from at least four states were “in attendance” at this special ceremony.
Colonel Larry Wusk is a 1959 graduate of Adams High School and then graduated from the University of Nebraska with a commission in the United States Air Force ROTC program. In early 1966 he was sent to Vietnam for combat duty where he completed 193 combat missions in South Vietnam, Laos, and North Vietnam. In late 1968 he found himself back in Asia in South Korea because of the increased tensions with North Korea over the Pueblo incident. Wusk retired from the Air Force in 1989 as a Colonel and Command Pilot with over 4000 hours of flying time. He now resides in Citrus Heights, California with his wife, Sharon.
Colonel Wusk’s quilt comes from a Fons and Porter’s Love of Quilting pattern entitled Marching Ready. It can be found in the September/October 2018 edition. In making this quilt we followed the pattern’s directions to the letter. We weren’t quite sure how it would look when it called for using both white and off-white fabric but we were very pleased with the result. I stitched an all-over star design on this quilt using white thread so that the texture could be seen rather than the thread color.
Lt. Colonel Lynne (Wusk) Hull served in the United States Air Force for 28 years as an Aircraft Maintenance Officer. She has served in active duty, as an Air Reserve Technician, and Traditional Reservist with deployments in each. She has also experienced her own command three times. Since her retirement she has served as the Work Life Specialist at Hill Air Force Base working with military members and their families. Lynne and her family reside in Huntsville, Utah.
Lt. Colonel Hull’s quilt is called Tri-Color Stars and was designed by Tony Jacobson. The original quilt called for the maker to choose ten of their favorite fabrics. Given the unique star design I thought this would be perfect for a Quilt of Valor so I reworked the colors to include various shades of red, white, and blue. I quilted an all-over star design using white thread to complete this colorful and patriotic quilt.
During the last year we have all had to adjust to doing our usual tasks in a slightly different way. For many of us that has meant learning new ways to communicate with each other via the Internet. The quilting club was thrilled that we were able to use this mode to recognize two outstanding veterans for their service to our country. Thank goodness for technology!