‘It’s a very great honor’: Veterans honored with Quilts of Valor in Chester ceremony
With a patriotic quilt draped around her shoulders, 97-year-old Laura Love Delancey sat quietly as she was honored for her service in World War II.
She was one of 17 veterans who received a Quilt of Valor during the Veterans Day Commemoration ceremony Monday at the Chester War Memorial building.
Delancey, who grew up in Chester, enlisted in the WAVES, the women’s branch of the Navy during the war, in 1944. She trained as a baker at the Brooklyn, N.Y., Navy Yard and worked at the Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland.
Her daughter, Kathy Delancey, said she did not tell her mother she was receiving a quilt, so Delancey was surprised when the green and blue quilt, decorated with an eagle, was placed on her shoulders.
“When they would sell the poppies for Veterans Day, she probably sold thousands of dollars in poppies,” Kathy Delancey said. “That was one of the highlights in her life as far as her commitment to her community. It’s grand that she is being recognized.”
Volunteers hand-made the quilts, which have over a quarter million stitches, with red, white and blue patterns, and presented the quilts to the veterans. Over 16 years, the Quilts of Valor Foundation has given about 238,000 quilts to veterans — and no two quilts are the same.
“A Quilt of Valor is considered by many veterans as the highest award that they can receive from a civilian,” said Harvey Mayhill, an Air Force veteran and a project specialist with the foundation.
Albert Aikins, Jr., who served in the Navy during the Vietnam War, said he was overwhelmed when he presented his quilt, which was decorated with red, white and blue geometric shapes, fireworks and American flags.
I just can’t bring up the words,” he said. “It’s a very great honor.”
State Sen. Mike Fanning, D-Great Falls, who served in the Army, attended the event as the keynote speaker. But Mayhill had a surprise for Fanning.
“Would you like to take the microphone and present the next quilt, which is kind of a surprise?” Mayhill said. “Would you be willing to do that?”
“I would be willing to do that,” Fanning said.
“Then, just stand there.”
“Our last and final quilt of the day is presented to Mike Fanning,” Al Boyd, an Army veteran, said.
A quilt that resembled an American flag was placed over Fanning’s shoulders. He started to cry.
“Harvey Mayhill and Al Boyd have done tremendous things for veterans in York and Chester and all around,” Fanning said. “And they’ve allowed me to participate in honoring our veterans. But I had no idea that I was going to be honored today as well for my service with my fellow veterans right here in my home community.”
Fanning, who represents District 17, which includes Chester, Fairfield and York counties, said the quilts are emotional for veterans.
“I got out of the Army in 1989,” he said. “And the emotions that I had literally took me back to 1989 when I was leaving my fellow soldiers as they continued to serve, and I came back home. That same emotion that I had when I left the service all came back today, as a reminder of why we serve.”
This story was originally published November 11, 2019 at 4:43 PM.
