This past summer, World War II veteran Chuck Hovey raised $1,000 for veterans in need. To meet his goal, he set up a vegetable giveaway in the yard of the home of his son, Don, and daughter-in-law, Terri Sloan, whom he lives with in Tipton. Vegetables grown by his family and neighbors were offered for free, and donations to Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 1152 in Kokomo were suggested. The story of his childhood makes it clear why he chose the VFW as the recipient of the funds he raised.
“Every day this summer I would go out at 9 and sit until I went in for lunch at 11 a.m.,” Honey says. “Then I’d go back out until 5 p.m. Donations took off once Terri put it on the internet. Some people would take three tomatoes and give a $20 bill. Others might take eight tomatoes and only give $3, but still, that was $3 to give the VFW. There were several kinds of produce. On the table was cantaloupe, summer squash, four varieties of red tomatoes, two types of yellow, acid-free tomatoes, and five different types of peppers including mild and hot ones. What I did was because of how I was brought up.”
Hovey’s father served in World War I and saw combat in France. At that time the survival rate for soldiers behind the lines was very low and few survived. Somehow the senior Hovey made it back alive, and once home, he started a family. However, when Hovey was 2 years old his father died, leaving behind a widow and two other sons aged 3 and 1.
Since his father was a member of the VFW post in Peabody, Massachusetts, a request was made to the National VFW Home in Eaton Rapids, Michigan. Permission was granted for Hovey, his mother and his two brothers to reside there. From the years of 1929 to 1945, as well vacations during his college years, Hovey grew up alongside other children who needed the care and help the home offered.
Established in January of 1925, the National VFW Home is now coming up on its 100-year anniversary. It was founded to carry out the VFW mission to “honor the dead by helping the living.” Initially it was just one frame farmhouse situated on 472 acres of land, gifted to the VFW by Michigan cattleman Corey Spencer.
Over the years a sprawling campus developed, which includes playgrounds, park areas and single family homes. Other additions included a community center, gymnasium and many more buildings. Still in use today, it has evolved to meet the changing needs of veteran and active-duty military families in today’s times.
“When we went, there were small, individual homes for each state,” Hovey says. “The Massachusetts cottage was occupied, so we lived in the Michigan cottage. It had one empty bedroom for my mother. She worked in the laundry, mended clothes, substituted as the cook at the hospital and substituted as a maid for the manager of the home. Eventually she became the house mother for the Massachusetts cottage. All the kids called her mom, but she told us not to call her that because we had the privilege of calling her mother. The children maintained the grounds, did the vegetable gardening, worked in the orchards and milked the cows. When I was going into the 12th grade, anyone who wanted could have a pickle patch. We sold the produce to a pickle factory and the money we earned was put into an account for us.”
In 1945 Hovey left the home and moved to Chicago, where he took electrician and refrigeration courses. He joined the Navy, but his ship never left the U.S. Eventually he went to college on the G.I. Bill but returned to the VFW home to work during vacations.
“I am now a proud member of the VFW after I joined it a year ago,” he says. “I was never on foreign soil, but now they have opened it up to veterans who have served honorably during wartime. The VFW does a lot of community support. The support I got from the community while raising money for the VFW was great. I’m 97, ride an electric cart and I’m in fairly good health. I have a soft spot in my heart for the VFW. I’d like to try the same thing next year.”
To learn more about the VFW National Home, visit vfwnationalhome.org.
VFW Post 1152 in Kokomo is located at 920 North Washington Street.
