Holt, 104, Honored for Military Service With Quilt

Members of Robert Holt’s family wrap a Quilts of Valor around Robert Holt, age 104, during a ceremony on Monday at Albion. The quilt was produced by the Eaton Rapids Main Street Quilters. 

By Jeff Steers
JTV News

(August 2, 2022 11:21 AM) At the age of 104, Calhoun County resident Robert Holt is still pretty sharp.

Case in point, Holt accepted a quilt from a group on Monday and was wrapped up in the large blanket.

After saying how warm it was, Holt quipped “Where is the bed?”

Holt received a Quilts of Valor from the Eaton Rapids Main Street Quilters at Forks Senior Center in Albion on Monday. He is a World War II veteran having served in the Army.

He still lives in his own home, is the oldest resident in Calhoun County, and was recently part of a billboard campaign in hopes of passing a veterans affairs millage in the county.

Holt was born in Missouri, graduated from Lincoln University High School, and want on to college. He eventually moved to Albion to work for Albion Malleable Iron Company making 68 cents per hour. He was drafted into the Army and sent to Germany.

Holt said in an article celebrating people over 100 in Calhoun County that the journey to Germany took 15 days and soldiers had to endure storms and violent waves.

He returned to Albion in the fall of 1942 and married LaVerne. They had seven children and purchased a two-story home in Albion for $7,000 in 1949 – a home Holt continues to live in.

Holt credits his faith for the ability to handle all that life has put before him.

The Quilt of Valor was presented by Joyce Griffith of Eaton Rapids. She said the Quilts of Valor Foundation is a national organization that was founded in 2003. 

Griffith said the quilt was presented to honor the service of the recipient; to honor the cost of freedom; and to comfort the veterans.

More than 300,000 Quilts of Valor have been awarded in the United States, Germany, Iraq, and Afghanistan. 

The mission of the organization is to honor service members and veterans who have been touched by war with comforting and healing.