Moultrie veteran Bobby Weldon receives Quilt of Valor

Published 10:17 pm Friday, February 28, 2014

A Colquitt County veteran, disabled by a stroke eight years ago, received a token of thanks and support Monday from a national group that gives quilts to wounded servicemen.

A red, white and blue quilt was presented to Bobby Weldon at his home on Willow Drive by Trish Padgett and Mary Sue Ward of the Adel chapter of Quilts of Valor.

Padgett said the quilts are available to any servicemember who served in a combat zone.

Weldon served in the infantry in Vietnam, where he lost his arm in combat. He was awarded two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star and a Silver Star during his service.

After he returned home, he became involved in the Disabled American Veterans organization, his family said. But a stroke in 2005 has left him bed-ridden.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation began in November 2003 with the goal of making quilts that would both heal and comfort America’s war wounded, according to its website, www.qovf.org. It uses the phrase “touched by war” so as to include both those with physical wounds and those whose wounds are otherwise.

The Adel chapter distributed its first quilts last fall when the Moving Vietnam Wall came to Cook County, Padgett said. It gave away more than 70 quilts at that ceremony and another 63 earlier this month in the chapter’s second presentation event. Weldon was scheduled to be among those, but his health prevented him from attending.

“We’ve given out more quilts than anyone in the state of Georgia,” she said.

The quilts are made by women all over Georgia, she said, and distributed by the chapters nearest the recipients.

Ward told Weldon that the quilt top was made by a woman named Ava, who lives in north Georgia, and it was quilted by Bella B. Their names are stitched in a corner of the quilt, as is his.

“It was quilted for you (specifically),” she said, reading from a presentation. “We don’t intend it as a wall hanging. We intend it to keep you warm.”

A letter from one of the women who sewed it was included inside a matching pillowcase.

Also present at the ceremony were Weldon’s son, Robert; his ex-wife, Doris Hart; and his longtime friend, Johnny Shiver. Shiver, an active member of Colquitt County veterans groups, played Taps as Robert Weldon lowered the family’s flag to half-staff.

Hearing Taps and seeing the flag coming down, two neighbors ran over to see if something bad had happened. They were pleased to find it had not.

Before Padgett and Ward left, they made arrangements with Shiver to get applications for quilts to other veterans in Colquitt County. Anyone else who would like to apply can do so at www.qovf.org/req-quilt.html.