A group of local crafters belonging to a national organization recently honored veterans with gifts of quilts stitched with respect and gratitude for the service they’ve provided to their country.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation is a collective of quilting groups around the country who craft quilts and award them to veterans throughout the year.

Quilts of Valor began, per the organization’s website, in 2003 as founder Catherine Roberts, saw her son deployed to Iraq. She had a dream in which a quilt brought tremendous comfort to a veteran battling with the trauma he was left with after his service.

In this spirit of offering comfort through quilts, many groups have been started to further the organization’s mission of honoring veterans, including one local group based in Columbia.

This particular group –  known as Stars of Honor – regularly meets at Warm N Cozy Quilting in Columbia and consists of members from Monroe, St. Clair and Randolph counties and is currently led by Dona Rector.

Rector recalled how her involvement with the group started rather by accident as she was recently retired and felt an urge to give back in her community.

She had a strong family connection to the struggle of veterans as her father-in-law spent several years during World War II as a prisoner of war.

As Rector said, citing her mother-in-law, he was never the same after that experience.

“It kind of hit home for me knowing what our veterans have gone through, and a lot of times, they’re not acknowledged,” Rector said.

It was ultimately through a friend of hers that she heard about and wound up joining Stars of Honor, where she has found a remarkable passion in conducting the majority of the group’s presentations.

“It is definitely my heart and soul,” Rector said. “I enjoy doing it. I love talking to the veterans and hearing their stories. It just makes it much more real.”

Stars of Honor and many other Quilts of Valor groups participated Saturday in Sew Day 2025, a sort of friendly competition in which these groups push to get quilts put together and invite new volunteers to join up.

This year’s Sew Day event for Stars of Honor took place at First Pentecostal Church in Dupo, featuring a presentation of quilts to several veterans in the afternoon.

Veterans recognized included David O’Neal, Donald Jelinek, Jerry Crossen, Nathan Guy, Danny Moore, Stacey Aycock, Andrew Aycock and Robert Ebner.

Along with providing a brief overview of each veteran’s service, Rector’s speech during the presentation ceremony noted the over 393,000 U.S. veterans and service members who have been awarded by Quilts of Valor over the years.

She further emphasized the mission behind Quilts of Valor, expressing her hopes “this quilt will offer you both comfort and healing.”

Along with a special presentation rather than the traditional Pledge of Allegiance, Rector concluded this part of her speech by saying, ‘There is not a hug strong enough, there are not words big enough, all we can offer is, thank you for your service, and welcome home.”

Two veterans recognized at the event, O’Neal and Ebner, spoke with the Republic-Times to speak further on their military service.

Ebner spoke about how he is originally from South St. Louis but eventually moved to Dupo. He went to junior college for a time but was drafted amid the Vietnam War – though he signed up for an additional period of service to have a better shot at a position in the Army he felt a passion for.

He served from 1966-1969, with his final year spent in Vietnam.

Ebner spent his time in the Army as a heavy equipment mechanic, recalling how he showed a remarkable aptitude for the field as he worked largely on construction equipment and other large machinery.

“I took a lot of pride out of being able to repair the equipment,” Ebner said. “And a lot times, they’d put me on the equipment the other guys couldn’t figure out, and I’d always get it.”

O’Neal comes from the village of North City in Franklin County, though he currently calls Columbia home.

He served in the Marines and described how, when he was still in high school, a recruiter contacted him, getting him to join in February 1974. His tour of active duty began in August following his graduation.

Regarding his service, O’Neal particularly emphasized his time spent with a rotating fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.

“The time I was on ship, I really liked it,” O’Neal said. “That was really interesting. We were over there for six months, and we operated with NATO… We sat for about a month one time off the coast of Lebanon because in 1975 there was some stuff stirring up over there, and we had our embassy there. They though they were gonna have to send us in to get them, but they finally decided to get them out with helicopters.”

Both veterans voiced appreciation for the ceremony and the quilt they received Saturday, with Ebner expressing his satisfaction quite simply.

“I was very impressed,” Ebner said. “Just the whole ceremony was impressive.”

O’Neal spoke to the surge in pride he felt for his service as he was honored.

“I thought that was really wonderful,” O’Neal said. “I thought it was a great thing. It gave me a sense of pride that boiled up in me that I hadn’t felt in a long time. It made me proud to have been in the military and served the country. People sometimes don’t realize how the little things mean a lot to a veteran.”

Another member of Stars of Honor, Jane Quernheim, spoke about the group and the ceremony experience.

Like Rector, she joined the group as she retired and picked up quilting as a craft, taking interest in the mission of Quilts of Valor.

Quernheim spoke about the group as a means of expressing her thanks to the veterans in the community, expressing a strong appreciation for the award ceremony.

“I thought it was an amazing way to honor veterans,” Quernheim said. “There are so many of them out there who deserve to know that people appreciate the time and energy and effort and commitment that they’ve made to project our country. I feel like it’s my way, the only way I know, of showing them my gratitude.”

Rector, too, voiced her appreciation for the award ceremony.

“I have met some very, very wonderful people,” Rector said. “It is such a privilege and a pleasure for me to honor a veteran or even an active serviceman. It’s my way of saying thank you for the freedoms that you have fought for that I enjoy.”

Those interested in joining Stars of Honor can stop by at the groups monthly meetings which take place at Warm N Cozy Quilting at 816 S. Main Street in Columbia the second Thursday of the month at 6 p.m.

The group also accepts nominations for those looking to have a veteran they know recognized through the honor of a quilt.