El Campo residents helped make a 100-year-old veteran’s birthday wish come true by sending cards to Bonham.
With a state-wide plea, Ethelyn Szad Bell was hoping to get 100 cards for her 100th birthday. She actually received more than 7,200 by her Oct. 4 birthday celebration at the Clyde W. Cosper Texas State Veterans Home where she lives.
“It is deeply inspiring to see not only the Bonham community, but also people from across our state and nation wholeheartedly embrace their duty to honor our veterans,” Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said.
During a party held for Bell, she was presented with a Texas Flag sent by Congressman Pat Fallon among other gifts, flower arrangements, two large sheet cakes, punch and a specially-requested margarita.
Bell offered her for all who helped make her 100th birthday a special one.
When enlisting in the U.S. Army in March 1945, Bell was 21 years old and World War II had been raging for years.
After completing training for Army nurses, she was stationed in the Philippines and Nagoya, Japan during World War II. Bell served until June 1946, honorably discharged as a second lieutenant.
Bell later worked for the Veterans Administration Hospital in McKinney.
After meeting her husband, another WWII Army veteran, Charles Bell, they moved to Prosper where they raised a son and a daughter. She worked as an elementary school nurse until she retired at 55.
The Veterans Land Board’s 100 for 100 program spotlights Texas Veterans who are turning 100 years old and are residents at one of the nine, soon to be 10, Texas state veterans homes, the nearest being on Cottingham Road in Houston, just north of Pearland.
© Newspaper WordPress Theme by TagDiv
