On Saturday, Nov. 9, the Lake Region Quilt Guild (LRQG) awarded their first Quilt of Valor (QOV) to Captain Brian Erickson, son of a longtime guild member, Betty Jo, and her husband, Chuck. Captain Erickson recently retired after serving in the Navy for 33 years.
The QOV is a national foundation that awards current and veteran service members who have been “touched by war” with a warm and comforting quilt. Each quilt is made by volunteer quilters who donate their time, fabric and quilting skills to create a unique quilt that is given to a service member as a way to say thank you for their service and sacrifice in serving our nation.
The LRQG awarded this QOV in the memory of Marcia Guderjahn who was an active guild member for many years and not only wowed the members at monthly meetings with her many quilt creations, she also entertained with her wit, humor and joy of life and quilting. Marcia passed away February of 2022 and her family gave a generous monetary donation to the guild and asked the group to use the donation to make a quilt in her memory. The LRQG decided to use the donation to purchase fabric to make a Quilt of Valor. Several guild members worked on this quilt over the course of several months, putting together the blocks, adding sashing and borders, then quilting and binding. The final step was to add the official QOV label.
Present for this award were 17 LRQG members, Chuck & Betty Jo, Marcia’s husband, Pat, and their son, Ryan and his family (via FaceTime). Chuck gave an abbreviated synopsis of Brian’s lengthy career and achievements.
