The healing power of a quilt

Five veterans from around the area were thanked for their service Saturday afternoon as part of Orient’s Pumpkin Days festival.

Right in the middle of the town’s main street, Rod and Jeri Beem of Winterset were on hand representing the Piece Works Quilts of Valor group from Winterset. The group gathers monthly to work on quilts and regularly gifts quilts to veterans as a token of appreciation for their service.

“A veteran, whether active duty, retired or in the reserves, is someone who at one point in their life, wrote a check payable to the United States of America to uphold and defend our Constitution for any amount, up and to their life,” Rod Beem said. “All veterans gave some and some gave all. While these veterans served, they lived up to the military codes of loyalty, duty, respect, selfless service, honor, integrity and personal courage.”

Receiving quilts were Jessie and Rob Christensen of Winterset, Joseph Beaman of Creston, Pam Shady of Shannon City and Philip Lovely of Orient.

Jessie Christensen’s Army career started in 2001. She would become a petroleum supply specialist. In 2002, she was deployed to Germany, assigned to the first of the 4th Calvary Fox Troop, with responsibilities of refueling helicopters. She was honorably discharged in 2003 with an ending rank of Private E-2. Rejoining civilian life, she now works as a registered nurse providing inpatient dialysis.

Rob Christensen enlisted in the Army in 1999. From 2000-2003, he was deployed to Germany, where he was assigned to the Bravo Company, 299th Forward Support Batallion of the first of the 4th Calvary. While there, he repaired M1 tanks. In 2003, he was deployed to Iraq, where he also repaired tanks. He ended his career in 2004, honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant, E-5. Rob now works for the Iowa DOT.

Beaman enlisted in the Navy under their delayed entry program while he was still in high school. Following several steps of training, in 2004, Beaman was assigned to the U.S.S. Kitty Hawk, which was stationed in Japan. In 2006, he returned to Florida for more training, which led him to be aboard the supercarrier U.S.S. Carl Vinson for nine months in Norfolk, Virginia. Beaman was honorable discharged in 2006 with the rank of aviation ordnanceman, E-3. Beaman teaches high school students carpentry and building trades at Southwestern Community College.

Shady enlisted in the Air Force in the summer of 1987. After training, she sustained an injury and was transferred to Sheppard Air Force Base in Wichita Falls, Texas for more training, and her specialty code was in finance. She was deployed to Italy before she returned to Myrtle Beach Air Force Base and was assigned to tactical air command. She was honorably discharged in June 1991 with the rank of Sergeant, E-4. Shady’s civilian career has been in accounting, medical billing and coding.

Lovely joined the United States Marine Corps in 1965. In 1967, stationed at Camp Pendleton, he was deployed to Vietnam. He landed in Da Nang and was attached to an artillery outfit, Headquarters Co. 3rd Battalion of the 11th Marines. He helped transport supplies and water for troops. He received an honorable discharge in September 1969 with the rank of Sergeant, E-5. For 40 years after his military service, Lovely drove truck for G&H Motor Freight, based in Greenfield.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation was started in 2003 by Catherine Roberts, a blue star mother whose son was deployed to Iraq. She had a dream in which she saw a young man experiencing despair being immediately comforted and redirected toward hope from the warmth of a quilt.

“This dream became the founding principle that quilts equal healing,” Jeri Beem said. “The first official Quilt of Valor was awarded in November 2003 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center to a young soldier who had lost his leg in Iraq.”