WINTER PARK, Fla. – The Quilt of Valor Foundation was started in 2003 by Catherine Roberts, whose son had been deployed to Iraq. Each quilt is handmade and awarded to a veteran to thank them for their service.
“I’m so honored to get this quilt I can’t wait to get it up and put it on my bed,” Ima Black said.
Black was 21 when in 1943 she joined the Navy from a recruiting office in Birmingham, Alabama.
“It got me out of Alabama and I was able to see the world I was able to marry the most wonderful Navy chief that ever lived in the Navy,” Black said.
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News 6 met Black in July when she celebrated her 100th birthday with a ride on a Navy Sea Hawk helicopter. Black was a member of the Navy WAVES unit — a women’s reserve branch during World War II. She’s also the widow of the first Master Chief Petty officer of the Navy, Delbert D. Black.
Melissa Mathews, the group leader for the Orlando Quilt of Valor Foundation began the local chapter in January of 2020.
“My only uncle was lost in WWII he was a B-17 pilot. I’ve always had that strong feeling for National service, patriotism, and a love of our country,” Matthews said. “It’s not a work of art but it is a work of heart because every single one of those quilts has little pieces of all of our hearts.”
Since the inception of the Quilts of Valor Foundation more than 280,000 quilts have been awarded nationwide to service members. Across Seminole, Orange and Osceola counties, 121 quilts have been awarded.
Among the recipients, Bud Lane, a Pearl Harbor survivor, Sargeant Luis Cambal who served in Afghanistan, and members of Longwood’s police department who are also veterans from the Gulf War and the war on terrorism.
It’s a token of appreciation that brought back some fond memories for Ima who said it reminded her of a quilt she started making before joining the Navy.
“It’s that quilt I tried to make for myself and I’ll tell you this quilt will be used, it will not be put on a shelf and will put it on my bed, and I’m sure at night I will have sweet dreams sleeping under this beautiful quilt,” she said.