OSWEGO COUNTY – The Ontario Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) has a long history of supporting our nation’s veterans, from collecting donations for the Syracuse VA Hospital, adopting units deployed overseas and marking veterans’ gravesites, to presenting educational programs.
Members recently honored their chapter’s own wartime veterans – Eileen Yager and Priscilla Thibault – with beautiful handmade quilts.
“The quilts were created to honor and show appreciation to our own members who served during times of war,” Ontario Chapter Regent Lorraine Gregory said. “Our members worked behind the scenes for many months to create two lovely quilts and presented them at a Veterans’ Day ceremony.”
Each quilt was embroidered with the veteran’s name and branch of service.
Eileen Yager, a resident of Dunlap Road, Mexico, served in the U.S. Air Force during the Korean War, from 1951 to 1955. Staff Sgt. Yager graduated from Fort Collins Women’s College and was stationed at Denver, CO where she worked on the B-29 “Superfortress” bombers and as a camera repairman.
Due to health reasons, Yager, age 91, was unable to accept her quilt in person. Her lifelong friend and caregiver, Janet Osuchowski, accepted the quilt on Eileen’s behalf and delivered it to her.
“I was very sorry that Eileen couldn’t be there, and I was very proud to accept the quilt for her,” Osuchowski said. “Eileen was very happy to receive it. She has always been very proud of her service and her membership in the DAR.”
Yager and Osuchowski met as childhood neighbors in Mexico, NY and have remained friends for a lifetime. “Eileen is an amazing, hard-working woman,” Osuchowski said.
Yager was discharged from service on Memorial Day, 1955, and has dedicated her life to supporting women veterans and veterans’ activities in Oswego County and beyond. She is past commander of the Pulaski American Legion Post 358, past Oswego County commander, and past commander of the American Legion 5th District comprised of Oswego, Herkimer, Jefferson, Lewis, Oneida, and Onondaga counties.
She is past commander of the Disabled American Veterans chapter 40, and co-wrote “Veterans for All,” a compilation of women veterans’ experiences that was published as a fundraiser for a disabled woman veteran.
Yager is a direct descendant of William Dunlap Jr., who served as a private during the American Revolution. Following her discharge from the Air Force, in 1955 Yager purchased the Dunlap family farm on Dunlap Road. She has lived there since and raised beef cattle and turkeys for many years.
Dr. Priscilla Chase Thibault served in the U.S. Navy during Desert Storm, from 1987 to 1996, attaining the rank of Lieutenant. She graduated from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) as an MD in 1991 and afterwards specialized in psychiatry. She was on active duty during Desert Storm, stationed at Bethesda Naval Hospital.
When she retired from actively practicing medicine after leaving the Navy, she became a caregiver for family members and friends, and as a volunteer has provided support to patients and families who have members with medical needs – in person, by phone and online.
Priscilla’s husband, Dr. Glenn Thibault, also graduated from USUHS and served in the US Navy (active and reserved) for 35 years until his retirement as a Captain in 2019. He left active duty in 2001, when he and Priscilla moved to Priscilla’s hometown of Orwell, NY where they raised their four children.
Glenn has been a family practitioner at Connext Care in Pulaski since the move, and was deployed as a reservist to Iraq in 2005 as a doctor to the 3/25th Marines.
“Medicine is our Christian vocation,” said Priscilla. “I was meant to be a psychiatrist.”
Throughout her career in the military and as a civilian, Priscilla has provided support to people experiencing illness, loss and grief. Her medical training and her years as a military wife gave her many opportunities to reach out to those touched by war.
Priscilla said her DAR friends were very supportive during Glenn’s deployment. Her quilt brings her comfort as a symbol of gratitude for her military service, and for her friends’ appreciation of her sacrifices as a military wife. It will be a treasured family heirloom.
“The quilt presentation was so unexpected,” she said. “The quilts are lovely. The colors are soothing and were carefully chosen. I am sad that Eileen couldn’t be there to share in the honors.”
Priscilla is descended from Revolutionary War veteran Jacob Shoecraft and was accepted in the DAR in 1991.
Chapter Regent Lorraine Gregory said that support of active-duty military and veterans is a major focus of the Ontario Chapter DAR. The quilts were created by a committee including Gregory, Martha Watson, Jean Rautio, and Past Regents Marilee Rayome, Cynthia Stanton and Shirley Hanley.
The Ontario chapter includes more than 30 members, most of whom live in eastern and central Oswego County and southern Jefferson County. Those interested in learning more about DAR membership in the Ontario chapter may contact Tasha Molnar, Ontario Chapter Registrar, at [email protected].
missing or outdated ad config