Granbury Quilters Guild donates handmade quilt to Vietnam veteran

A local military veteran received a literal warm welcome when members of the Granbury Quilters Guild presented him with a Quilt of Valor last week.

A Quilt of Valor is a quality, handmade quilt that is machine or hand quilted. It is awarded to a service member or veteran who has been touched by war, according to qovf.org.

Granbury Quilters Guild members Gail Olney and Kathy Cosand surprised local veteran Edward Thomas when they came into his room at the Granbury Villa Rehab & Nursing Home with a special gift on Friday.

“We're with a national organization called the Quilts of Valor, and today you're being awarded a quilt from our group,” Olney said to Thomas.

Thomas served in the Army from April 1, 1969, to March 1, 1971. He fought in Vietnam and was shot twice, from which he received a Purple Heart for his bravery.

He was nominated for the Quilts of Valor Foundation almost three years ago by his sister, who resides in Illinois.

“Our group is so new here that we just now have a quilt ready for you, so we'd like to present you with a Quilt of Valor, and we're hoping that it provides comfort to you,” Olney said. “We’re so happy that you’re here with us. We thank you for your service and dedication. We know it will never be enough, but this is just a token of our appreciation for what you did.”

“I don’t know what else to say except ‘Thank you,’” Thomas said, who was almost speechless.

INTEGRATION

Cosand is a retired Air Force colonel who flew jets in the military for 25 years. She is also married to a military member.

She said when she first moved to Granbury five years ago, she was taking a sewing class at one of the local quilt shops when she realized that the Granbury Quilters Guild did not participate in the Quilts of Valor organization.

“I talked to one of the ladies there who would drive all the way up to Fort Worth to be part of the Quilts of Valor group, because Granbury wasn't doing it,” Cosand said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, we need to have our own. As a quilt guild, we need to be doing that here,’ so we started up November a year ago.”

Olney said there are 12 women from the guild who work together on the Quilts of Valor, with each quilt featuring a different design. There are currently eight quilts ready for presentation.

The Granbury Quilters Guild now receives all the Hood County nominations for Quilts of Valor.

“You have to go through the Quilts of Valor website for the nomination process,” Cosand said. “For example, copies of the DD214 basically have to be submitted, which is a form that every veteran gets when they leave the service that gives their date of rank, how many days they served, what awards they were awarded and whether or not you had an honorable or dishonorable discharge. You cannot have a less than honorable discharge to be presented, and you cannot receive more than one. There's a whole process for people who nominate. They can go onto the website and nominate their veteran and then once we find out about it, then we get in touch with the family — we try to keep it a surprise.”

The Granbury Quilters Guild have only given a handful of quilts away so far — including one to the mother of Trevor Reed, the Granbury resident and former U.S. Marine who spent almost 1,000 days imprisoned in Russia.

“The quilt shop in town, Sew Much Love, donated a quilt kit last spring, and we put it all together, sewed it all, quilted it, had it bound and ready to go, and it was given to Trevor Reed,” Cosand said. “We wanted to make sure that he had a quilt and we wanted him to know that Granbury appreciated him getting back."

“It’s really touching to see,” Olney said, explaining how some veterans break down when they’re gifted their quilts.

Cosand said one recipient was an Agent Orange victim, who had never spoken of his time in service — until the day he was gifted his quilt.

"What was interesting was when we made the presentation to him, he started talking about his service, and what had happened in Vietnam, and his whole family was like, ‘He has never talked about this before,’” she said.

“He talked about how he flew his plane and how it was way below regulation, but he had to do it, or all of those people would’ve died on the ground,” Olney said.

The Granbury Quilters Guild also donates quilts to the NICU in Texas Health Fort Worth, pet shelters, CASA, and the Brazos Pregnancy Shelter.

“Sewing lets you be creative. Everybody likes to sew,” Olney said. “I mean, that's why we're there, to do the quilting, but this is a way to do good with it.”

Cosand added, “I know you make a lot of sacrifices when you're in the military, so we're just really happy to be able to do something for (veterans)."

GUILD MEETINGS

The Granbury Quilters Guild meets at 6 p.m. on the third Monday of the month at the United Co-Op Community Room in Granbury. Workshop days are held the third Thursday of every month from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. in the same location. Visitors are welcome.

“It's a nonprofit, and it's really basically for us to enjoy quilting, learn more about quilting and quilt together,” Olney said. “(Visitors) can come a couple times before they join. We usually have a program. There's usually a speaker or demonstration at the guild, and then for our workshop days, it's just ‘Bring your sewing machine and come.’”

For more information, visit the Granbury Quilters Guild Facebook page. To make a Quilts of Valor nomination, visit qovf.org/nominations-awards/.