Ballard Eagleson Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3063
"No One Does More for Veterans"
If you’ve ever attended a post holiday social, then you’ve met our incredible Santa, Ann Leake. This holiday season Seattle Times reporter Erika Schultz profiled Ann for a video feature. If you’d like to view the video, check it out at https://www.seattletimes.com/video/f1CR1Pr2/second-generation-santa-93-shares-joy-of-the-job/. Be sure to grab a tissue, Ann is a truly an inspiration!
Today on National Wreaths Across America Day Post 3063 provided an honor guard at the Sons of the American Revolution-sponsored WAA event at Lake View Cemetery. It was a soggy morning but people young and old turned out to honor our fallen veterans. A couple scouts from the post’s sponsored Girl Scout Troop (#46953) participated as well.
This is a recurring column that highlights the 2021-2022 post officers.
What is your military background?
My military service is backwards to nearly everyone else: I was in private practice for 22 years, and then joined the Air Force at age 52. Accidentally, I became a flight surgeon, that got me deployed to Iraq, and led to another residency in Aerospace Medicine. Which then led to 3 more deployments: Korea, Iraq again, and Kyrgyzstan. My role as Aerospace Medicine specialist meant I flew and took care of air crews, but it also put me overseeing shop safety and public health on the base, which put me in an experienced role when Covid arrived – having dealt with SARS1, MERS, Swine Flu/N1H1, and Ebola already.
Tell us about your position and what you hope to accomplish during your term.
I’m still trying to decide my role with the Post. I’ve enjoyed contributing to the newsletter, particularly trying to translate what is going on with Covid. I can offer medical advice to members and fellow board members as we negotiate these times where the goal posts seem to keep moving. My goal is still to meet people, and hopefully we will be able to do more in-person functions in the future as vaccination of the members increases.
How long have you belonged to Post 3063 and did you previously serve in an officer position?
I joined the VFW less than 2 years ago after I retired from the Air Force and moved to Seattle. My intent was to try to meet people, but then Covid hit. I was asked to be Post Surgeon, which is fun for some as I really am a surgeon.
By Harold Rodenberger
Those of you who have been in our hall in the past few years may have noticed that the ceiling tiles are yellowish from the days of inside smoking and stained from water leaks.
A few weeks ago, our contact at FRIHET 402, VASA (Swedish Freedom Assoc), called and wanted to know if we could use some almost new ceiling tiles. They were removing a dropped ceiling in their recreation center at Lake Sammamish and were willing to donate them to our post. During normal times they meet in our hall once a month and had noticed the stained ceiling.
On January 16th, we rented a truck and, with the help of several volunteers, loaded up about 600 ceiling tiles and brought them to our post. The following weekend we changed out the tiles in the small meeting room. Next we will replace the tiles in the main hall. It’s a big project so we’ll do it over upcoming weekends.
Here’s a big THANK YOU to the folks at Frihet and many thanks to volunteers Dan Stokke, Bryce White, Russ Seelig, Pat Ronan, Joe Tiffany, Campbell Krawitz and our Commander, Joe Fitzgerald. Their help made it work.
