Vietnam Women’s Memorial
Janine Baxter
The Nurses of Quail Creek joined together for their monthly meeting in October for a salad potluck and to discuss a bestselling book, The Women, by Kristin Hannah (a historical, fictional story of a young nurse who serves in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps during the Vietnam War). Anyone who has read this novel knows that it is an emotional account and that it generates many thoughts and feelings. This is a book that not only touched us as nurses, but also as women.
Our book discussion was taken to the next level, because we were joined by two nurses who served during the Vietnam War and are now our neighbors here in the Quail Creek community. Retired U.S. Air Force Major Lynn Rafter and Retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Ann Miles met with us. We were honored that they were willing to share some of their own experiences and memories of their time in Vietnam. In all honesty, we could have listened and discussed for hours on end. One of the concepts in the book is that “women can be heroes.” No question, we knew this to be true by the end of our evening.
Next up is a meeting on Nov. 12 from 3 to 6 p.m. at the home of Donna Dabeck (1623 N. Rush Creek Court). The nurses will participate in an Open the Bottle event. Each attendee will bring a bottle of wine wrapped completely in foil. We will taste and rate each bottle by secret ballot. We will then unwrap the bottles to reveal the winner. As a bonus, Donna’s husband Rick Novosad (a retired quality specialist from the Mondavi Winery in Oakland, Calif.) will share his wealth of experience and knowledge about what to look for when tasting wine.