thedrifter
10-14-05, 04:25 AM
Three generations of Ohio family help bring home Marines' dog
Journal-News
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Beans the dog, the mascot of a hard-hit Ohio Marine battalion, has three generations of a crafty Cuyahoga Falls family to thank for helping finance his trip from Iraq to the battalion's home town near Cleveland.
Ninety-three-year-old Johanna Martin, her 75-year-old daughter Alma Smith and Smith's college-age granddaughter, Rachel Salzer, have used their homemade crafts and cooking to raise money for good causes for years — an estimated $25,000 since about 1987. That's when a 3-year-old Salzer wanted to make Easter baskets for nursing home residents and her grandmas helped.
Salzer later called on her relatives to sell baked goods, crocheted blankets and hand-crafted clown dolls to raise money for animal-rights groups. Then came the local raffles and charity auctions.
The family stepped up most recently this past summer, when news broke that Beans' adoptive owner was among 14 Marines from the Brook Park-based battalion killed within a week in Iraq. Cpl. Jeffrey Boskovitch's mother wanted to honor her son's wish to bring Beans home.
Transporting military mascots to the United States from war zones is a bureaucratic maze and can be very expensive, though Beans' journey was expedited by the military because of the battalion's tragedy.
Salzer, a University of Akron student, had been involved in the effort to bring back the dog, and her grandmother and great-grandmother busied themselves to help with the fund-raising. They are, Martin said with a laugh, "working for Beans."
The women don't make a big deal about what they have done.
"I just have to have something to do," said Smith, a spry, talkative woman who seems much younger than she is. A former shoe repair shop worker, she said she likes to work with her hands, but she doesn't have room in her house for everything she makes. Crafting lets her satisfy her creative urge while helping others.
Last month, she crocheted seven ponchos based on the one given to Martha Stewart by a fellow inmate. Now she's trying to figure out a use for about 50 yards of fabric that a granddaughter picked up at a garage sale.
"I'll find something to do with it," she said. "Make footstools or something."
Martin, 75, insists she's not as creative as her mother. She learned to crochet on her own because she's left-handed, and her right-handed mother couldn't teach her.
The women will make anything they think they can sell such as an Uncle Sam figure.
Rachel Salzer says her relatives' support over the years has meant a lot to her.
"It just seemed like whatever project we were working on," she said, "they were always jumping in."
Ellie
Journal-News
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio — Beans the dog, the mascot of a hard-hit Ohio Marine battalion, has three generations of a crafty Cuyahoga Falls family to thank for helping finance his trip from Iraq to the battalion's home town near Cleveland.
Ninety-three-year-old Johanna Martin, her 75-year-old daughter Alma Smith and Smith's college-age granddaughter, Rachel Salzer, have used their homemade crafts and cooking to raise money for good causes for years — an estimated $25,000 since about 1987. That's when a 3-year-old Salzer wanted to make Easter baskets for nursing home residents and her grandmas helped.
Salzer later called on her relatives to sell baked goods, crocheted blankets and hand-crafted clown dolls to raise money for animal-rights groups. Then came the local raffles and charity auctions.
The family stepped up most recently this past summer, when news broke that Beans' adoptive owner was among 14 Marines from the Brook Park-based battalion killed within a week in Iraq. Cpl. Jeffrey Boskovitch's mother wanted to honor her son's wish to bring Beans home.
Transporting military mascots to the United States from war zones is a bureaucratic maze and can be very expensive, though Beans' journey was expedited by the military because of the battalion's tragedy.
Salzer, a University of Akron student, had been involved in the effort to bring back the dog, and her grandmother and great-grandmother busied themselves to help with the fund-raising. They are, Martin said with a laugh, "working for Beans."
The women don't make a big deal about what they have done.
"I just have to have something to do," said Smith, a spry, talkative woman who seems much younger than she is. A former shoe repair shop worker, she said she likes to work with her hands, but she doesn't have room in her house for everything she makes. Crafting lets her satisfy her creative urge while helping others.
Last month, she crocheted seven ponchos based on the one given to Martha Stewart by a fellow inmate. Now she's trying to figure out a use for about 50 yards of fabric that a granddaughter picked up at a garage sale.
"I'll find something to do with it," she said. "Make footstools or something."
Martin, 75, insists she's not as creative as her mother. She learned to crochet on her own because she's left-handed, and her right-handed mother couldn't teach her.
The women will make anything they think they can sell such as an Uncle Sam figure.
Rachel Salzer says her relatives' support over the years has meant a lot to her.
"It just seemed like whatever project we were working on," she said, "they were always jumping in."
Ellie