A keepsake for service: Local veteran honored by quilting group

As a corporal in World War II, Lyle Dennis, better known as "Fats" or "Fatty" to his friends, was in charge of nearly 300 German prisoners of war.

"I was strict, but I was decent to those troops," he said. "Many told me they liked working for me because I respected them."

Being in charge of so many men wasn't difficult for him because he knew he "just had to treat them fairly," he said.

Dennis is the area's most recent recipient of a quilt of valor - a national project that aims to provide one quilt for every service member and veteran throughout the United States.

"I don't like the notoriety," he said. "I just did what I had to do."

Dennis was born in 1913 in Avon, Idaho, a small town northwest of Deary. He turned 97 today.

Dennis was in the service for four years, seven months and four days.

He never took a day off.

"We had no communication out there," he said. "Nowadays kids start to holler if they don't have a telephone."

He served in the 30th Field Artillery Battalion of the Army, which included 10 months of service in northern Europe.

Two years of Dennis' service was spent in the Aleutian Islands during the Pacific campaign of the war.

"I sure could have used that quilt in some of that Aleutian mud," he said.

The quilt was started by Jean Proctor, a Deary resident who recently died of cancer. It was completed by the Country Pine Piecemakers, a group made up of a dozen local quilters from Deary and its surrounding areas.

The club's president, Becky Fredrickson, said completing the quilt was a way for the group to give back to a veteran from their community.

"Jean had all these pieces started, and her daughter didn't know what to do with them," she said. "So we took it on and were happy to have finished it before his birthday."

The club has done two other quilts of valor, and it also provides baby blankets to local organizations such as Care Net of the Palouse.

"I think younger generations don't really know what went on during those times," Fredrickson said. "Those were our fathers, our grandfathers. This is just a way for us to give something to them to let them know we appreciate what they've done."

More than 20,000 quilts have been awarded to wounded soldiers through the Quilts of Valor Foundation's program.

Dennis said he was honored by the gift and was glad to spend the day with friends and members of his family.

A toast of sparkling cider was given in Dennis' honor.

"It's not the gift, really," he said. "The gift is just the article, but the (givers) are quite real, quite meaningful."

For information on the Quilts of Valor Foundation, go to www.qovf.org.

Christina Lords can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 301, or by e-mail to clords@dnews.com.