{"id":24423,"date":"2024-12-12T17:38:06","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T00:38:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/three-veterans-at-or-nearing-centenarian-status-are-celebrated-in-cortez\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T04:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T04:53:10","slug":"three-veterans-at-or-nearing-centenarian-status-are-celebrated-in-cortez","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/three-veterans-at-or-nearing-centenarian-status-are-celebrated-in-cortez\/","title":{"rendered":"Three veterans at or nearing centenarian status are celebrated in Cortez"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Three
Three veterans and long-standing residents of Cortez were honored at the Disabled American Veterans on Friday, Dec. 6 with challenge coins, personalized letters and quilts. From left to right: Dick Reed, Dick Lindsay and Charles Grasse. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

To honor three veterans who are longtime residents of Cortez and nearing centenarian status, the Disabled American Veterans Outreach Center threw a party for them on Friday, Dec. 6.<\/p>\n

The public was invited, and everyone squeezed into the DAV on North Broadway at noon to eat chili, birthday cake and, above all, to celebrate the veterans.<\/p>\n

\u201cAny time we can celebrate our older vets, it\u2019s an outstanding day,\u201d said Ron Terry, a commander at the DAV in Cortez.<\/p>\n

The three honorary vets were Dick Reed, who turns 100 on Dec. 27; Dick Lindsay, who turns 99 on July 31; and Charles Grasse, who is 92 years old.<\/p>\n

Reed and Lindsay are World War II veterans, and Grasse served in the Korean and Vietnam Wars.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s rare. As a state commander, I go to four or five a year,\u201d said Michael Schievelbein of Colorado\u2019s DAV.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s rare on a few fronts.<\/p>\n

Of America\u2019s almost 330 million people, only 631,000 are over the age of 95, according to a 2020 report from the U.S. Census Bureau.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, less than 1% percent of the 16.4 million American soldiers who served in WWII are still alive today, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.<\/p>\n

And though Terry said, \u201cwe try to make every day one of recognition for our veterans,\u201d Dec. 6 was decidedly special, as the three of them received a challenge coin, a personalized letter and a quilt.<\/p>\n

Two of the quilts were from the Quilts of Valor Foundation, which started in 2003 as a way to offer healing, comforting sentiments \u201cto service members and living veterans of the U.S. Armed Forces,\u201d according to its website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Dick
Dick Reed, a veteran of World War II who will turn 100 years old on Dec. 27 was awarded a Quilt of Valor at a celebration on Friday, Dec. 6. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Dick
Dick Lindsay, left, and Charles Grasse shake hands. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Community
Community members went up to the three veterans at a celebration for them on Dec. 6 and thanked them for their service. (Aaron Lewis\/Special to the Journal)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cThe quilt isn\u2019t a gift, it\u2019s an award for your service and sacrifice. The quilt is a thank-you,\u201d said Jane Hile, who presented the two Quilts of Honor to Reed and Grasse at the party. \u201cWith you in mind, this quilt was made. \u2026 Know you\u2019re forever in the hearts of a grateful nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lindsay was also awarded a quilt, though it wasn\u2019t a Quilt of Valor one since he was added into the combined birthday party a little later than the others.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe quilt is a work of art, it\u2019s beautiful,\u201d Lindsay said as he sat in the chair, wrapped in his quilt with a large eagle on it.<\/p>\n

Grasse sat to Lindsay\u2019s left, and expressed feelings of joy and honor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very much honored and humbled. I don\u2019t know what to say or how to act,\u201d said Grasse. \u201cI can\u2019t thank them enough; it\u2019s unbelievable, a once in a lifetime thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrapped in his quilt and enjoying birthday cake, Reed, who will soon be 100, said, \u201cI\u2019m an honored guest and I\u2019m enjoying it.\u201d \u2026 \u201cThe cake is very good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Terry of the DAV called the event a success, noting the standing room only status of the crowded room.<\/p>\n

Some community members who came out knew the veterans personally as a friend or family member, others were veterans themselves, and the rest came out to show support to a few local heroes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is really nice, to honor these three,\u201d said Montezuma County Commissioner Kent Lindsay, the son of Dick Lindsay. \u201cAt their age, to still get in here and get around is incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kent said his dad \u201cnever really talked about the war. These guys are pretty guarded about what they did.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said that he, his dad and a group still get breakfast together on Thursdays at McDonald\u2019s in town.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur group is called The Old Guys at Breakfast,\u201d said George Tripp, a U.S. Navy vet who\u2019s part of that group.<\/p>\n

Tripp said it started out as a church group sometime in the 1980s. Now, they meet over breakfast and talk about things going on in the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd Kent shares what\u2019s going on at the county level,\u201d Tripp said.<\/p>\n

Ron Kimmi is another member of the \u201cold guys at breakfast\u201d club, and said he\u2019s been friends with Dick Lindsay for years.<\/p>\n

Kimmi called him \u201ca character.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loves women. He owned the Flower Cottage and delivered flowers to my wife. He calls her his girlfriend,\u201d said Kimmi with a smile. \u201cHe\u2019s a great guy, raised great kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

The veterans in the crowd made sure to salute the three veterans once they had received their awards, and sang happy birthday to them, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you we\u2019d sing,\u201d said Wes Soule, an officer at the DAV in Cortez. \u201cAnd it\u2019s just as bad as I predicted.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018It\u2019s unbelievable, a once in a lifetime thing\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-24423","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24423","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24423"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24423\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78528,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24423\/revisions\/78528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24423"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24423"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24423"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=24423"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}