Our Mission
The Lexington Veterans Association (LVA), through its sponsorship of monthly speakers on miltary-related topics of public interest, provides a forum where veterans and members of the community come together in fellowship to be informed and inspired by our speakers; gathers, preserves, and shares the oral histories of veterans; collaborates with our Veterans' Services Director; and fosters community support for veterans.
Our History
The Lexington Veterans Association began more than four decades ago when Winston (Pat) Flynn, the Town’s first Veterans Services Officer (VSO), met informally with a group of fellow World War II veterans in the basement of the old Senior Center at the Muzzey complex to share their military experience. The group included Pat Flynn, Bill Maher, Harry Wildasin, Bill Nesline and Bill Stern.
At each of their weekly meetings, a member would tell his story and share his experiences. Since the participants had little exposure to military assignments other than their own, they were fascinated by the stories told by other veterans. There was sadness and there was humor too, but everyone listened and gladly shared when it was their turn. Decades after the war, these veterans fleshed out what was going on in the different theaters of war that none had known about while they fought and served. Pat Flynn’s ongoing support and assistance was invaluable.
Younger members began to join the group, including Bill Johansen. Bill wanted to record their remarkable stories for posterity. He also believed that members of the community would enjoy hearing these talks as much as the veterans did. Bill Stern, Bob Edwards, Phil Schaffer, and Tom Caldwell formed an Executive Board, named the group the Lexington Veterans Association, and moved their meetings to a local restaurant while they sought permanent space. In 2005, the Cary Memorial Library completed a major renovation. Bill approached the library staff with a proposal to host and record regular lectures by veterans of WWII and others. The staff enthusiastically supported the proposal and provided their large meeting room for our programs.
To oversee the filming and preserving of all future programs, Bill Johansen recruited Ed LoTurco to serve as Producer. A group of volunteers filmed the talks with hand-held cameras. Ed collaborated with LexMedia, our Community Television station, to produce a DVD of each talk and add it to the Library’s collection. In 2017, when the Library installed a state-of-the-art control room to record presentations, Ed arranged for LexMedia to film our talks, create DVD’s, store them in their archives for posterity, and air them on local TV. He reached out to Lexington High School and recruited student interns to work in the control booth recording the lectures.
The lecture series expanded to include talks on general military topics as well as personal stories of veterans from Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Lexington Friends of the Council on Aging saw our programming as a vital link to the town’s senior population. They chose to support our mission by providing an honorarium to each speaker. Starbucks in Lexington Center welcomed the opportunity to express their support of our veterans. For nearly two decades, they have provided complimentary coffee at our meetings.
We are constantly striving to maintain excellence in our programming and to make it more accessible to the general public. In 2019, Ed LoTurco launched a comprehensive program to locate all available DVD’s of past programs, store them in the LexMedia archive, and upload them to YouTube with links from our website. This project is well underway. Jim Ramsey spearheaded our active collaboration with the Bedford VA Medical Center that includes live streaming of our programs to the veterans in long term care, along with an in-house lecture series. We’ve introduced our new website with greater content and ease of navigation. Although COVID-19 forced the cancellation of our spring programming, we held our June program on schedule using ZOOM technology and will continue offering future programs by this method.
The LVA has established working partnerships with Gina Rada, the Veterans Services Director for Lexington/Bedford/Carlisle, the Town Celebrations Committee, the Lexington Historical Society, the World War I and World War II Commemoration Committees, Lexington High School, and other organizations to promote community support for veterans and to create high quality programming for our members.
Today, the Lexington Veterans Association is a vibrant organization with a member list of more than 300. Attendance at our lectures averages 60-70 dedicated followers, including non-veteran community members. We promote our meetings through our website, email notifications, media stories in the Lexington Minuteman and the Colonial Times, and Sage, the newsletter of the Lexington Community Center. Our Executive Committee has expanded to 12 members who enrich the lives of veterans through their varied military experience, community engagement, and business skills.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the Cary Memorial Library, the Lexington Friends of the Council on Aging, and Starbucks in Lexington Center for their years of support, without which we would not be the flourishing organization we are today.
At each of their weekly meetings, a member would tell his story and share his experiences. Since the participants had little exposure to military assignments other than their own, they were fascinated by the stories told by other veterans. There was sadness and there was humor too, but everyone listened and gladly shared when it was their turn. Decades after the war, these veterans fleshed out what was going on in the different theaters of war that none had known about while they fought and served. Pat Flynn’s ongoing support and assistance was invaluable.
Younger members began to join the group, including Bill Johansen. Bill wanted to record their remarkable stories for posterity. He also believed that members of the community would enjoy hearing these talks as much as the veterans did. Bill Stern, Bob Edwards, Phil Schaffer, and Tom Caldwell formed an Executive Board, named the group the Lexington Veterans Association, and moved their meetings to a local restaurant while they sought permanent space. In 2005, the Cary Memorial Library completed a major renovation. Bill approached the library staff with a proposal to host and record regular lectures by veterans of WWII and others. The staff enthusiastically supported the proposal and provided their large meeting room for our programs.
To oversee the filming and preserving of all future programs, Bill Johansen recruited Ed LoTurco to serve as Producer. A group of volunteers filmed the talks with hand-held cameras. Ed collaborated with LexMedia, our Community Television station, to produce a DVD of each talk and add it to the Library’s collection. In 2017, when the Library installed a state-of-the-art control room to record presentations, Ed arranged for LexMedia to film our talks, create DVD’s, store them in their archives for posterity, and air them on local TV. He reached out to Lexington High School and recruited student interns to work in the control booth recording the lectures.
The lecture series expanded to include talks on general military topics as well as personal stories of veterans from Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The Lexington Friends of the Council on Aging saw our programming as a vital link to the town’s senior population. They chose to support our mission by providing an honorarium to each speaker. Starbucks in Lexington Center welcomed the opportunity to express their support of our veterans. For nearly two decades, they have provided complimentary coffee at our meetings.
We are constantly striving to maintain excellence in our programming and to make it more accessible to the general public. In 2019, Ed LoTurco launched a comprehensive program to locate all available DVD’s of past programs, store them in the LexMedia archive, and upload them to YouTube with links from our website. This project is well underway. Jim Ramsey spearheaded our active collaboration with the Bedford VA Medical Center that includes live streaming of our programs to the veterans in long term care, along with an in-house lecture series. We’ve introduced our new website with greater content and ease of navigation. Although COVID-19 forced the cancellation of our spring programming, we held our June program on schedule using ZOOM technology and will continue offering future programs by this method.
The LVA has established working partnerships with Gina Rada, the Veterans Services Director for Lexington/Bedford/Carlisle, the Town Celebrations Committee, the Lexington Historical Society, the World War I and World War II Commemoration Committees, Lexington High School, and other organizations to promote community support for veterans and to create high quality programming for our members.
Today, the Lexington Veterans Association is a vibrant organization with a member list of more than 300. Attendance at our lectures averages 60-70 dedicated followers, including non-veteran community members. We promote our meetings through our website, email notifications, media stories in the Lexington Minuteman and the Colonial Times, and Sage, the newsletter of the Lexington Community Center. Our Executive Committee has expanded to 12 members who enrich the lives of veterans through their varied military experience, community engagement, and business skills.
We owe a debt of gratitude to the Cary Memorial Library, the Lexington Friends of the Council on Aging, and Starbucks in Lexington Center for their years of support, without which we would not be the flourishing organization we are today.
Early leaders of the Lexington Veterans Association,
from left to right, Bill Stern, Pat Flynn, Bill Johansen, Phil Schaffer, Alan Glou, Warren Winslow. |