The Township Council has recognized a local resident who sewed a red, white and blue quilt with stars to honor local veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
By Amy Batista, Special Writer
FLORENCE — The Township Council has recognized a local resident who sewed a red, white and blue quilt with stars to honor local veterans who gave the ultimate sacrifice.
At the meeting Nov. 6, council President Jerry Sandusky thanked Mayor Craig Wilkie for allowing the quilt to be displayed.
”About a year ago, I mentioned to Mayor Wilkie about a quilt that this young woman made in this town that honored all the deceased veterans of the wars,” Mr. Sandusky said. “You did put that in there for me, and I appreciate that.”
The quilt made by Joanne Trout is on display in the front showcase of the municipal building.
”She did it for her father, really,” said mom, Gloria Mognanchi, on Sunday, adding they also worked on an honor roll for years, which also is on display right next to the quilt.
According to Ms. Mognanchi, the quilt was made about seven or eight years ago.
”She made it honor of all the veterans were killed here in Florence Township,” Ms. Mognanchi said.
According to Ms. Mognanchi, there are 37 men who died in all the wars — World War I, World War II, Korea and more — and all their names are on the quilt.
”She had a star . . . for each one that was killed,” Ms. Mognanchi said.
Mr. Sandusky encouraged residents to stop by and take a look at the quilt.
”She did a marvelous job,” Mr. Sandusky said.
He added the town named a lot of streets after its fallen veterans.
Ms. Mognanchi’s husband, Steven, was a veteran who served in World War II in the Army and “was so determined that they weren’t going to forget his buddies that he went to school with . . . so he had streets named after each one of them that were killed,” Ms. Mognanchi said.
At a township meeting, her husband said other streets has been named after other people so he wanted some named them after people “who gave the supreme sacrifice,” according to Ms. Mognanchi.
So the next development, Greenbriar, had its streets named after the 37 township residents who died serving their country.
”There was a fellow in Greenbriar, one of the developments — he was kidded all the time about his street,” Ms. Mognanchi said. “He lives on Barbee Street. He wasn’t from around here. His friends used to tease him all the time about living on Barbee Street. He was curious why his street was named Barbee. Then when he found out they were all named after somebody who was killed, he came to see me, and I gave him a little rundown on what happened to each one of them.”
According to Ms. Mognanchi, the man then wrote an article about then street names in the development’s November 2011 newsletter.
Ms. Mognanchi is helping to carry on her husband’s legacy and “remember these fellows and remember what they did.”
Her husband used to go to the school and talk to students about the veterans from their town.
Ms. Mognanchi said. “Each one of these fellas had a story” her husband shared with the children.
Ms. Mognanchi recalled how one veteran used to drive General Patton around and others who went down with a ship and were never found.
”This is why my husband did what he did,” Ms. Mognanchi said, explaining he wanted the children to know about these veterans they were not going to learn about in school.
Ms. Trout was unable to be reached at press time.
The veterans are:
From World War I, 1917-1919 — Francis W. Robbins, William Hogan, George Beatty Jr., Howard G. Regars, Wesley J. Harding and Paul Willitts.
From World War II, 1941-1946 — Nello L. D’Annunzio, James E. Lee, George G. Abrams, Francis A. Lubrano, Alexander W. Andrews, Ralph Pigott, Thomas H. Applegate, Joseph Seaman, Robert J. Archibald, Steve Seyebe, Robert I. Arnold, Dominic J. Szypulski, Harry M. Brown Jr., Edward F. Trainor, Richard L. Engel, Joseph A. Varga, Nicholas P. Fillipponi, George L. Webber, Carl R. Larson, John A. Yockus, Herbert L. Larson, Jacob Leffler, James R. Tonne and Wallace A. Ridgway.
From the Korean War 1950-1959 — George E. Wolfe, Stephen Hegyi, George Challander and Hansel Daniels.
From the Vietnam War, 1961-1975, E. Budd Marter III, Leon Barbee and Leon A. Tetkoski Sr.

