It was close to “standing room only” for those attending the 8:30 a.m. Veterans Day breakfast at Windsor Manor Assisted Living Community, 403 Scenic Street, Morrison, IL, on Saturday, November 11, 2017. Director of Health and Wellness Nicole Shepard estimated, ” We’re pushing 80 people here today,” who were eating and chatting, filling the dining room, library, and common room.
The convenient timing allowed community members to attend the ceremony at Grove Hill Cemetery at 10:45.
A complimentary buffet meal was extended to each veteran and one guest: biscuits and gravy; scrambled eggs; pancakes; hash browns; bacon and sausage links; beverages.
Two fifth grade, 10-year-olds read essays to special veterans. The students had interviewed the men for the annual veterans concert and program at Southside School. Their teacher, Anita Dobbins, offered a list of questions to consider for the writing task. Students chose what they would ask the veteran to create their report. The concert included choral and band music, speeches, and reading of the top essays in each 5th grade classroom.
Keegan Strobbe, below, directed his remarks to his grandfather, Gary Ottens of Morrison, a United States Army veteran.
Brooklynn Knouse, 10, interviewed Windsor Manor resident James Clary, who served in the United States Air Force. Her grandmother works at the facility and asked Clary if he would like to be interviewed. Their conversation lasted three hours!
One staff member, Nicole Shepard of Morrison, is a veteran. She is show at left with Activities Director Angie Strobbe. Shepard explained she had “two Air Force uncles with ten-to-15 years in already. They convinced me” to enlist. She served in the United States Air Force from 2002 to July 2006, at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, TX. Shepard was in charge of Traffic Management for C-130’s and B1 bombers. She directed cargo and personnel to appropriate bases Stateside and overseas. She became the Element Leader, in charge of other women, à la a dorm mom.
“I did two overseas tours, as support for those in combat,” she stated. “I was in Qatar and in the British-Indian Ocean, on an [undisclosed] island.”
Windsor Manor Assisted Living Community’s Veterans Day meal offered an opportunity for veterans and their guests to gather comfortably, in recognition of, and appreciation for, their military service.