Vietnam War veteran Hugh Daley of Dixfield enjoys the comfort of the quilt that his friend Kris Ramos presented to him in late October. Ramos had the quilt certified by Quilts of Valor, a foundation that honors service members and veterans by labeling and certifying quilts as Quilts of Valor. (Photo/George Ramos)

DIXFIELD — When Kris Ramos started creating a quilt with a stack of nine squares of red, white and blue patterned fabric at her local quilting class, she often thought about Hugh Daley, her friend who is a Vietnam veteran.

“As I was sewing (the pieces) together, Hugh just kept coming to mind,” Ramos said. “He’s a friend of mine, he was in Vietnam and he’s a disabled vet. So every time he did (come to mind), I would pray for him as I was making the quilt.”

Earlier this year, Ramos went to a Maine Quilt Show and heard about the Quilts of Valor Foundation, which honors veterans with quilts. She decided to call it to get the label, a certificate for the quilt, and a letter of honor and thanks from the foundation for the quilt she was making for Daley.

When she received the materials, she found that the quilt was numbered 200,108 by the foundation which got its start in 2003.

As she presented the quilt to Daley at his home in Dixfield at the end of October, she also read him the foundation’s letter of honor and thanks for his service in the U.S. Air Force, while her husband, George, took photographs of the two friends.

“It warmed my heart to see his joy and his teary thank-you,” she said.

“I was astonished,” Daley said about receiving his special quilt from Ramos and Quilts of Valor. “It was probably one of the best ‘medals’ that I ever got in my life.”

Their friendship began from the time she was young and he knew her family, Daley said.

Daley was a technical sergeant in Vietnam who served as a crew chief on an F4 Phantom fighter jet.

“I had my own aircraft and I took care of it,” he said.

He did several tours of duty from 1965 to 1972, but he does not remember a whole lot of it, he said.

Daley had three sons, although one has passed away, and has lived in Dixfield with his wife, Vawn, since 1983, where he built a home and worked as a carpenter for his company, H & R Daley.

mhutchinson@sunmediagroup.net

Kris Ramos presented Hugh Daley, her friend and a Vietnam War veteran, with a quilt she made and had certified as a Quilt of Valor by the Quilts of Valor Foundation in late October. The foundation provides a label, a certificate for the quilt, and a letter of honor and thanks for service members and veterans. (Photo/George Ramos)