Grateful veteran honors fellow soldiers with work

LIMA - The Elks' relationship with this country's veterans stretches back to World War I.

It's a love affair, of sorts, filled with respect, dedication and gratitude. Enter, in recent years, Peter Noyes, who embodies all of that, first as an Army helicopter pilot in Vietnam and now as the veterans affairs officer for Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks Lodge 54.

Noyes, of Wapakoneta, is a local Jefferson Awards for Public Service winner and a nominee to represent the community in Washington, D.C.

Noyes' and the Elks' dedication to those at the Veteran Affairs Medical Center in Dayton spans the year, but Christmas stands out. In October, Noyes visits veterans in the hospital and nursing home, asking what they'd like.

This list this Christmas included sweatshirts, phone cards, clock radios and, for one, some big band cassette tapes. Noyes gathers preferences and sizes, then shops, arranges for cards made by grade-school children and delivers them with Santa Claus.

The rest of the year is filled with parades, ceremonies, car shows, flag presentations and more donations of blankets, magazines, puzzles, stamps and personal care items.

The Elks built and donated veterans hospitals to the federal government that were precursors to the VA system. The group made vocational and educational loans that inspired the G.I. Bill.

Noyes joined the Army in 1961, already with a bachelor's degree in biology in hand. He thought he'd be a veterinarian and then a doctor, but life had other plans for him. He stayed in the Army for more than 20 years, along the way earning a master's degree. He helped develop the Blackhawk helicopter and M1 Abrams tank. After the Army, he worked for a company that eventually brought him to the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center, from which he retired in 2005.

In 2008, Noyes put 5,000 miles on his vehicle making trips three times a month to Dayton. He's a hobbyist photographer, and the pictures of proud veterans tell the story of their gratitude.

"At times, I find myself working as hard as I did when I was employed, wishing that there were more hours in the day," Noyes said. "I consider it a privilege to be allowed to help others, and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world."

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JEFFERSON AWARDS

The Jefferson Awards for Public Service honor outstanding volunteers in our community. The area's representative to go to Washington, D.C., will be announced March 24 in a ceremony at Veterans Memorial Civic Center.

Over eight days, The Lima News offers profiles of this year's finalists:

Today: Peter M. Noyes

Monday, March 23: Bernadette Schoonover