The Veteran Newsletter > January 2013 - Ohio Department of ...

By OVH-Georgetown Administrator Andrew Vogel
The holidays are over and we can
all sit back and catch our breath –
finally, huh? This past Christmas
season was very active around the
Ohio Veterans Home –
Georgetown.
In fact, Christmas is almost as big
a deal with our Veterans as it is
with their grandkids and great
grandkids. It’s not surprising
really, Veterans make up less than
7% of the American populous.
But, as a group they probably have
spent more Christmases away from
home than the rest of the
population combined. And, many
times Christmas was celebrated in
God-forsaken places like North
Africa, frigid Korean
mountains, sweltering
South Pacific islands,
the jungles of
Vietnam, or in Iraq
and Afghanistan.
The month of
December started off
with a bang! December 1 st our
Veterans were honored as the
Grand Marshals of the annual
Georgetown Christmas parade.
There were two decorated buses
full; and the guys were decked out
in Santa hats for the occasion.
One of our cars was even sporting
a huge Santa hat fashioned by
Volunteer Services Coordinator
Pat Michalski.
The following week the Veterans
were honored again when they
threw the switch to light up the
numerous Christmas trees for the
annual Celebration of Lights at
Southwest Regional Medical
Center in Georgetown.
Stein Hospice hosted its annual
“Light up OVH” ceremony with a
live tree that was donated to the
facility.
There were tons of visitors to the
Home during the Christmas season.
The American Legion Gifts for
Yanks program made its annual
pilgrimage to the facility and the
VFW State Commander Chuck
Keller also brought
in a contingent. The
Adams County DAV,
Sardinia American
Legion Auxiliary
Juniors, The Bethel
American Legion all
hung out with the
guys at various times.
The Western Brown Men’s Singing
Group, Forest Aires, pianist Peggy
Warner, Ken Boland and guitarist
Steve Featherson entertained, as
did groups like Mack McCray who
come on a regular basis. Southern
Hills Career &
Technical Center
students made
Christmas ornaments
with the Veterans
and Georgetown
High school
students distributed
fruit.
123 rd Air National
Guard and the Western Brown
ROTC cadets, Georgetown High
School students and Georgetown
Cub Scout Pack, along with girl
scout and boy scout troops were
here as well as companies such as
Merchants Bank, Target Stores,
Sam’s Club and Mary Kay.
Oh, and the Jolly Ol’ Elf himself
put in an appearance – several
times.
Cards from Afar
Leslie Bruyns is a 4 th grade teacher
at Lakeshore Elementary School in
Rochester, N.Y. Her grandfather,
Bernie Sheehan, was a resident at
OVH-G until January 2010.
Remembering how
Mr. Sheehan would
hang cards in his
room, this past
Veterans Day Ms.
Bruyns’ class sent
cards to our Veterans;
and in December they
sent Christmas cards,
as well. She asked that
we hang the cards in
Veterans’ rooms as her grandfather
had done. That is, indeed, the spirit
of the season.
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