Appreciating their sacrifice Roll Call hosts monthly luncheons to honor veterans

by John English Hoopla Correspondent

Wherever veterans, military members and first responders can be found, Rick Irving is almost certain to be close by.

The Fort Worth native, who joined the United States Army in 1972 and attained the rank of Specialist 5th Class, volunteers for a number of organizations that work with people who serve or have served.

One such group is called Roll Call, a nonprofit whose mission statement is “to honor and serve our veterans by providing a regular venue for fellowship and camaraderie.”

The organization offers a monthly event for local veterans to do just that.

“It’s a free luncheon for veterans,” Irving said. “Typically, post-COVID, we have about 400 to 450 veterans and supporters that get together for a luncheon each month. We’ll have an ROTC or some other group come in and present the colors. Then one of the veterans will say the Pledge of Allegiance and somebody will sing the national anthem and say a prayer. Then we have a lot of volunteers that will come and serve the lunch at the

Veteran’s Appreciation Lunch

June 23: 11:30 am - 1:30 pm

Birchman Baptist Church

9100 N Normandale St, Fort Worth RSVP online at www.roll-call.org RICK IRVING an honor.

The luncheon is generally held at the Birchman Baptist Church Family Activity Center, located at 9100 N. Normandale St. in Fort Worth. Once a year, Roll Call holds the luncheon at the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base, which they did in April of this year with more than 800 veterans and military personnel in attendance. The group takes a hiatus in the month of July. To see the full schedule, visit www.roll-call.org, where you can also make reservations.

“I do a lot of work with a lot of different organizations,” Irving said. “I volunteer for about 45 different groups doing photography. And most of those are military veteran or Gold Star Family-related organizations. That was how I got interested in Roll Call.”

Since 2017, the former army specialist estimates he has taken roughly 400,000 veteran photos, including at least 30 Medal of Honor recipients.

Irving, who works as a real estate broker, grew up in Fort Worth and attended Arlington Heights High School.

Shortly after graduating he joined the military and said that one of the things he likes the most about working with veterans groups is the sense of esprit de corps that exists among all servicemen and women, regardless of the manner in which they served.

“It doesn’t matter which branch of the service,” Irving said. “When you sit down with veterans, there’s a common bond.”

The Fort Worth man served four-and- half years, and his wife, Susan, is also a veteran.

For the Irvings, service to the country is a bit of a family tradition.

“Both of our fathers were WWII veterans,” Irving said. “And then my grandfather was a WWI veteran. So it’s in my family.”

Irving said at the moment, a major goal of Roll Call is to try to draw in guest speakers from the Greatest Generation who attend the luncheons.

“We have some great speakers,” Irving said. “We’re trying to get as many WWII veterans as we can to tell their stories, because we are losing them at a rate of about 220 a day. In another five or six years, we won’t have any, because the youngest WWII veterans are about 94 or 95 years old.”

There is one WWII vet who currently speaks frequently at local veteran’s organizations and gatherings and provided

Irving with one of his happiest memories from his time volunteering.

“We have a WWII veteran whose name is Don Graves,” Irving said. “Don was a Marine who served in Iwo Jima. Don is a great asset to our group because he goes out and speaks to other groups. His specialty after he tells his story is to sing ‘God Bless America.’ One of my friends, Jeremy Lock, has a podcast called ‘Last Letters.’ He had Don on there a couple of months ago and asked him if he had anything left he wanted to do, because Don recently turned 98.

“Now Don is of Irish decent, and he said one thing left on his bucket list is to go to Ireland, go to a pub, have a pint and sing ‘Danny Boy’ celebrating his 98th birthday.”

Evidently, the community and fans around the world answered the call.

“They set up a Go Fund Me page for him, and in no time, they had raised more than $10,000,” Irving said. “So they had a live video from Ireland where Don was at a pub, drinking his pint and singing ‘Danny Boy.’ It was great.”

Irving and Roll Call President Mary Staffeld, SMSgt, USAF Retired, have a podcast of their own called “Hometown Heroes,” which airs every Tuesday and can be found on Facebook.

Quilter of the Month

Patti’s Last Resort has nominated Bonnie Rhoby of Granbury for the Quilter of the Month. Bonnie, who owned a longarm sewing business and quilt shop in Michgan, moved to Granbury a little over two years ago. Her passion for quilting led her to join the Granbury Quilting Guild. She’s now vice president of the group as well as the program director. Now that she’s retired, she quilts almost every day making mostly art quilts, like the one above titled “Sewing Seeds of Hope.” Bonnie handpainted the fabric for each piece of this quilt before putting it together. Her inspiration came from a poem that’s included on the upper lefthand corner of the quilt. It says, “All the flowers of all the tomorrows are in the seeds of today.” It’s encouragement to start something new, and quilting may be something you’ve considered trying. Bonnie says at one time she was the most unlikely quilter you’d find. “I couldn’t even sew a button on a shirt,” she said. She says joining a quilting bee and taking a few classes will set you on the right path. “You can’t make a work of art on your first try,” she said. “It takes perseverance.” To nominate a Quilter of the Month, email seniors@hooplamagazine.com.