Category Veterans Homes
Veterans’ Best Friend Proved to be the Volunteer of a Lifetime at Fresno Home
Shortly after the Veterans Home of California-Fresno opened in October 2013, Gladys Garza-Brown took her former husband, an ailing veteran, there to scout it out as a place where he might live. She also brought along her Border Collie, Chase. The moment they walked through the doors, staff immediately began recruiting her and Chase to […]
Too Early to Deploy, Redding Home Vet Found Herself Swamped with Paperwork
As the Korean War raged in 1951, Lois Sweeney decided to become one of “The few. The proud. The Marines.” She enlisted and soon found herself at Parris Island, South Carolina — one of the 138,000 recruits who trained there throughout the war. “I was in the swamp,” the 92-year-old resident of the Veterans Home […]
With Pandemic Restrictions Eased, CalVet Homes are Eager to Rebuild Volunteer Ranks
Arlene Kepplin loved volunteering so much at the Veterans Home of California-Yountville that she did so for more than two decades. Her remarkable span began in 1998; she kept going strong until the pandemic in 2020 severely limited all volunteerism at Yountville—and at all other seven Veterans Homes. The majority of Kepplin’s volunteerism was at […]
Blindness Spurs Army Veteran to Swing into Music
Emmanuel Hodrick lets his fingers guide him whenever he plays the electronic keyboard at the Veterans Home of California-Redding. “I find the two raised black keys—D-Flat and E-Flat—and I know Middle-C is the key to the left,” Hodrick said. As we celebrate Black History Month, CalVet honors this resilient 60-year-old Army veteran who, blind for […]
An Apple a Day and Then Some for 103-Year-Old in CalVet’s Ventura Home
Apple trees, Mack Edwards will tell you, can live for a very long time. “They have to be taken care of a bit,” said the World War II Army veteran, retired orchard owner, and six-year resident of the Veterans Home of California-Ventura. In fact, given the right conditions – climate, water and good soil among […]
Navy veteran finds ‘Heaven’s Waiting Room’ at CalVet’s Lancaster Home
Soon after Lawrence Jones moved into the Veterans Home of California-Lancaster in 2012, a fellow veteran told him he was now in “Heaven’s waiting room.” It didn’t take Jones long to understand what the older vet meant. A U.S. Navy veteran, Jones soon discovered his own, once-elusive bliss there at the Home. A quality of […]
Navy Veteran Brings Hot Food, Warm Conversations to Residents at CalVet’s Yountville Home
Joe Raudales decided it was time for a change. His five years in the U.S. Navy included tours of duty in Japan and the Persian Gulf. He served aboard an amphibious ship off the coast of Somalia, and saw duty as an air traffic controller before he separated in 1996. He then spent 23 years […]
Home Is Where the Veteran Is for CalVet’s New West Los Angeles Administrator
As the new administrator, Stephanie Weaver’s goal for the Veterans Home of California-West Los Angeles really is quite simple. “I could end up as a resident here someday,” said Weaver, appointed to the post by Governor Gavin Newsom in September. “I want it to be the best Home in the system. I want for them […]
From Supporting a U-2 Plane to Supporting Veterans at Yountville Home
In October 2003, the U.S. Air Force sent then-Staff Sgt. Miguel Vargas to the United Arab Emirates in support of a U-2 spy plane hunting down the terrorists involved in the September 11 attacks. “We worked 12-hour shifts, and following one of the reconnaissance missions I participated in, the lead pilot told us we found […]
Air Force Veteran Brings Security and More to State’s Oldest Veterans Home
After the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began more than two decades ago, newspapers and local television stations loved covering stories about servicemembers who returned home to surprise their kids at school. They still do. Those heartwarming moments of reunion and joy can soften the hearts of even the most war-hardened folks. B.G. Sick, now […]
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