DAV donates funds for burial of Gold Star Mother.

Elliott Funeral Home Office Administrator Faye Gonzales, center, receives a check for $1,000 to help pay the burial cost of a deceased Gold Star Mother. Presenting the check are back row, from left, Past National Executive Committee members Hal Hicks and Hollis Bridges, and second row, from left, Auxiliary Past State Commander Pat Hicks of Unit 11, Decatur, Ala., and Unit 26 Adjutant Fairee Bridges, Huntsville, Ala. Donations were collected from DAV and Auxiliary members statewide who attended the Alabama 2007 Mid-Winter Conference.

A Gold Star Mother lay in state in Moulton, Ala., as the DAV Department of Alabama conducted its 2007 Mid-Winter Conference last January. She had lost her son to combat in Vietnam, and her burial was being delayed because, at the time, her family was unable to finance the cost.

When DAV and Auxiliary members at the conference learned of the matter, they were deeply troubled. It was just not acceptable for any mother who had given so much for her country to come to such an end. Moving to make matters right, members, Chapters and Units collected approximately $3,000 to help bury the Gold Star Mother.

The day after the conference, a delegation of DAV and Auxiliary members met with Elliott Funeral Home Office Administrator Faye Gonzales to present the donated funds to complete the burial. As it turned out just $1,000 was needed to complete the Gold Star Mother's burial costs, and the amount was immediately paid by the Department. Remaining funds were placed in the Department treasury to help others when needed.

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For DAV and Auxiliary members in Alabama, building better lives for America's disabled veterans and their families is an ongoing mission, and, now and then, it also is a mission of lending dignity at the end of a life.