Angels are Everywhere

It’s often been said that downsizing from one’s residence can be one of the most confusing and herculean tasks that can be undertaken. What to take and what to leave can be some of the most difficult choices one makes. On occasion, you can get rescued by the most unexpected “angel” or two who come out of nowhere when you least expect it.

This is a story about a great couple who built their home on Marco Island to move into after his career in the military ended and his secondary career in another unrelated field came to a close a decade later. That allowed them to finally move south to their forever retirement home.

Such was the case for one such woman until the summer of 2006 when her world was turned upside down after she had lost her husband of 44 years. 

Fast forward a few years, and she realized that maybe it might be time to downsize. The expenses of upkeep on a larger home might not be a wise use of resources, so she looked for a while before selling their retirement home and beginning a new chapter in her life.

During all these changes in her life and the turmoil present during such times, a treasured piece of her and her husband’s history somehow slipped through the cracks until it arrived at the United Church of Marco Island’s Bargain Basket Store on Bald Eagle Drive. It was there when one of the curious volunteers discovered a valued piece of memorabilia from the life of the man and woman who spent 26 years of their lives as members of the U.S. Armed Forces.

Because of the keen eye of one of those “angels,” Bargain Basket volunteers Roger Sands and another “angel,” his friend Richard Heinrick, were able to reunite her with that important piece of her life. She was now able to place that piece of memorabilia into a place fitting for this important piece of military history that will always have a connection with the community that they both had come to love. 

It will come to its final resting place, along with his other military memorabilia, in the future Veterans Service Center and Military Museum, which will be located in a building donated to the county on Golden Gate Parkway. The county has requested a six-million-dollar grant from the federal government to renovate the county-owned building which sits at the entrance site for the future state veteran’s home.