Two women from the Santa Clarita Valley Elks Lodge No. 2379 have been presented with “Quilts of Valor” for their years of service.
Jeannette Fisher, an Army veteran, was gifted her quilt during a ceremony that was held at Veterans Historical Plaza in Newhall. Fisher is the chairman for the SCV Elks Lodge Veterans Committee.
Fisher said she was excited to be honored for her work but felt unworthy of the recognition.
“I almost don’t feel deserving of it, but it’s just such a wonderful, comfortable feeling,” Fisher said.
She added that she was a medic in the Army when she was in the service.
“I joined the Army in 1981. I went in straight from high school. I was just barely 18 years old. I was a medic in the Army, and I did three years of active duty, and then I followed up with three years of active reserve duty,” Fisher said.
She added that the Elks Lodge members are her family.
“Since I was in the military, I was born and raised in New York City. I don’t have family in California, except for my children,” Fisher said. “My Elks family is, they are my family, not just friends. So, when Donna (Kiger) said, ‘Invite your friends and family,’ I immediately go, ‘my Elks family.’”
Ilia Banks, a Marine veteran, was also gifted a quilt during the “Amber Waves of Grain” event in Corona. Banks is the SCV Elks Lodge lecturing knight officer.
Banks said she went to the Quilts of Valor booth and registered with some friends who were also fellow veterans and were able to get them right then and there.
“We’re filling out the paperwork, and turned it in, didn’t think anything else of it, and they were like, ‘Oh, no, we can award you your quilt now,’” Banks said. “And we were like, ‘Oh,’ and they had all these different kinds of quilts for us to look through and figure out which ones (we wanted).”
Banks chose a quilt that had her favorite football team, the New England Patriots.
She added that they did a small ceremony and thanked her for her service, which she said made her emotional.
Banks said she was born and raised in Texas before enlisting at 17 years old.
“So, I enlisted out of Colorado Springs back in 1998. And then I went to Twentynine Palms, California. That’s what originally brought me out to California,” Banks said. “And went through comms school, communications school, and then I stayed there and worked for headquarters, Marine Corps Communication Electronics school there.”
