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thedrifter
09-18-06, 10:09 AM
Honor bound - Patriotism runs deep for quilter
By NOAH BLUNDO, T-R Staff Writer

There’s no doubt that Credella Shriver’s family is patriotic.

With 34 family members who have served or are serving in the military, Shriver, a Woodsfield resident, made a quilt that she has entered in competition at the Tuscarawas County Fair in Dover featuring the names of several generations of servicemen and women. Two of those honored by the quilt are area residents Del Armstrong, a former New Philadelphia firefighter, and Lawrence Kelley, former owner of Kelley’s Heating and the husband of Shriver’s sister, Elizabeth Kelley of New Philadelphia. Armstrong was in the Army in the 1960s, and Kelley was a medic in Korea.

Shriver decided to make the quilt to honor her father, Eugene Clark, an Army infantryman who served in France and Germany during World War I. She began about a year ago and presented it in June, with all 34 names and 34 pictures in an accompanying frame, at the 34th Clark family reunion in Barnesville.

“There’s very few families that have that many in the military,” said Elizabeth Kelley.

The red, white and blue work, which was hand-pieced and machine-quilted, features a white star with each family member’s name and military branch, as well as four blank stars for possible future veterans. Each corner also features the emblem of one of the four branches of the military – Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines.

Family members have been represented in each of those branches, beginning with her father’s time in World War I and following through “about every conflict since,” Shriver said.

Some of the family members named on the quilt are active, some long since retired. All but four are still living. And among the names are three women and two sets of twins.

The quilt also features one final distinction that might bode well for its upcoming competition: a blue ribbon from the Monroe County Fair.

Ellie