NORTH LOGAN – Wednesday evening was a special evening for eight servicemen whose lives had been touched by war. They received Quilts of Valor as part of a ceremony at the Rocky Mountain Veterans Center in front of approximately 60 people there to recognize them for their service to the nation.
Quilts of Valor Northern Utah Group organizer Jennifer Lee told how the Quits of Valor foundation began. She said it was a national organization founded in 2003 by “Blue Star” mom Catherine Roberts from Maryland whose son was deployed in Iraq.
Labels were sewn into the Quilts of Valor with information on who made them.
“Roberts made a quilt and took it to the V.A. hospital and gave it to them to find someone to give it to,” Lee said. ”She later found out it was given to a double amputee.”
After Roberts’ experience, the idea of comforting Veterans with quilts took off.
Today, there are more than 437,000 quilts that have been awarded in the United States and other countries, said Sherwood Preece, also a member of the Northern Utah Chapter of the organization.
“The Quilts represent healing,” Preece said. “Volunteers give their own time and materials when they make the quilts. They are all hand stitched and represent hours of work.”
He said the people that make these quilts want to reward the retired soldiers for their sacrifice for the country.
The quilts are all different because different people make them.
This year’s recipients of Quilts of Valor were Ronald Stowell, US Navy 1954 – 1957; Ken Lyon, US Army 1955-1957; Walt Mason, US Marines 1966-1970; Willian Buckley, US Army 1967-1969; Calvin Jensen, US Army 1968-2005; Frank Reyes, US Navy 1969-1975; John Burton, US Army 1969-1988; and, Wallace Odd, US Air Force 1969-1995.
There was a label sewed into every one of the quilts with the information on who quilted them.
Quilts of Valor Foundation is to reward, cover, comfort and heal service members and veterans touched by war, said Terry Messmer. The Quilts of Valor Ceremony was made in part by the Linda and Terry Messmer Foundation. The foundation was created as a non-profit (501c3) philanthropic charitable organization which was incorporated in 2021. The purpose of the foundation was to honor those who give perpetual selflessness in service to others.
Messmer is a retired US Army Colonel who served from 1971 until 2014.
He and his wife formed their foundation after a near-death experience Terry had with COVID. He was in the hospital’s intensive care unit and was touched by the service he received from the medical staff.
The medical team was instrumental in his recovery as they provided comfort and care for him and others while they were isolated from their families. The medical team, in effect, became the patient’s family.
The medical staff’s work and care impressed the husband and wife deeply and they wanted to find a way to pay it forward.
A pin to honor the servicemen who served during wartime was awarded to the retired solders on Wednesday Feb. 11, 2026.
A pin to honor the servicemen who served during wartime was awarded to the retired solders on Wednesday Feb. 11, 2026.
The Foundation does more than provide quilts to veterans, they have provided nursing scholarships to Utah State University, and financial support to the Cache Valley Food Pantry and the Rocky Mountain Veterans Center.
“We are recognizing eight area veterans who have been touched by war with handmade quilts,” Messmer said. “I nominated each veteran and when I called them to let them know, all felt undeserving. Humility seems to be another trait of most veterans.”
He hopes the event should be catharsis for these veterans and their families, hence a night of healing.