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Aug. 4, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: On Aug. 1, the Rockbridge area lost a special person. Her name was Collette Barry-Rec and she dedicated much of her life to honor veterans and this country.
I knew her for over 20 years and here are a few things I remember most. The second Iraq war started in 2001 and young Rockbridge area servicemen and women were on the ground there for many years. Collette was always very patriotic but now she came up with a way to help our military in the war zones of the Middle East. She somehow gathered lists of local military and through contact with their families got their mailing addresses. Her plan was to buy food and hygienic items that were not available to our troops in combat zones, pack them up and send them to individuals with a note from her expressing her pride in them. She named this effort “The Care-Box Project” and she sent her last package three days before she died.
These Care-Boxes contained things that were not included in the food items provided by the military like hot sausages, jerky, candy bars and certain toiletry items. Each box, including the items and mailing expense, came to about $40 and increased over time. Since 2004 she sent over 2,800 of these packages. Her one-person efforts included raising well over $130,000 and spending thousands of hours to honor our veterans. I’ve seen her standing in front of Kroger, Wal mart and Food Lion soliciting funds. Fourth of July festivities at various places would always have a Care Box booth set up with pictures of local servicemen and women and Collette there dressed in her typical red, white and blue outfits. The Military Officers Association of America local chapter always let her set up a raffle table to support Care-Box and the local VFW used to give her a monthly donation. Her enthusiasm and love of country and its veterans shined brightly.
She was also involved with a multi-person project that made quilts for the families of veterans. Many quilts were prominently displayed at the local Y. Others were displayed on Veterans and Memorial Days.
We veterans and citizens were fortunate to have her for the past few decades. BOB HOPKINS Vietnam veteran
