Homer Lyons sat in the chair of his Penn Township living room, the center of attention, as his three children and several grandchildren gathered around him Christmas Eve.
Around the shoulders of this World War II veteran was draped a special quilt, a Quilt of Valor presented to him because he was involved in a war.
“This is a big surprise to me,” said Lyons, 92, of Harrison City, who served in the Army in Europe.
Lyons, who grew up in Harrison City, was drafted into the Army in 1944 while working at the former McKee Glass Co. in Jeannette. He was shipped to Europe and ended up in Germany, guarding German prisoners of war. After the war, he returned home, landed a job at Elliott Co. of Jeannette and married his wife, Ida, in 1953.
What made this colorful quilt even more special was that it was made by his oldest daughter, Karen Antis of Georgetown, Ky.
“I did it to honor my father for his service,” Antis said.
The quilt, which she started in the spring and finished in October, has a blue border with stars surrounding a center design of a screaming bald eagle with an American flag as a backdrop.
“My quilts tend to grow,” Antis said. Her father’s quilt, which she describes as a “labor of love,” is 5 feet-by-61⁄2 feet.
Throughout the process, she took steps to ensure the work would be kept under wraps. She said she did not show anyone, even her sister, Darlene Sandrick of Penn Township, when she visited. Sandrick and her brother, James Lyons, also of Penn Township, were on hand to witness the ceremony.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” Antis said.
Her mother, Ida, said they knew Karen was a quilter, but “she never said a word about it.”
Penny Crowe of North Huntingdon, the local coordinator for the Quilts of Valor Foundation, conducted a brief ceremony in presenting Lyons with the quilt, which cannot be awarded posthumously because the mission is to cover living service members and veterans.
“The Quilt of Valor is not a charity quilt. A Quilt of Valor is not a blanket,” Crowe said.
