Quilt of Tears recalls Agent Orange victims

Quilt of Tears recalls Agent Orange victims

By Audrey Stanton
Register-Herald Features Editor

By Audrey Stanton

REGISTER-HERALD features editor

RAINELLE — Living veterans aren’t the only ones honored in Rainelle this weekend.

Under a large white tent in the town’s industrial park, “The Quilt of Tears” exhibit features a collection of 26 quilts honoring victims of a deadly herbicide used primarily during the Vietnam War.

“It’s an emotional sight for many of the veterans who see it,” said Henry Snyder, a veteran who is suffering for the ill effects of Agent Orange. He and his wife Shelia travel with the exhibit, sharing its message anywhere they can. The Florida couple took over the cause after the widow who started it could no longer do so.

They say hundreds of thousands of Vietnam veterans have suffered and died from the effects of Agent Orange. Yet an accurate figure is anyone’s guess because most cases aren’t traced. They place it around 500,000. Most death certificates list the cause of death as cancer unless a widow states otherwise, the Snyders say.
go here for more of this story
Quilt of Tears recalls Agent Orange victims

Email from Sheila and Henry


Dear Friends,

Henry & I just got home yesterday from our trip to Rainelle, W. Va. where we displayed The Quilt Of Tears during the L.Z. Rainelle Veterans Reunion 2009 (http://www.lzrainelle.com/). It was a very nice town & event which began with a biker group Task Force Omega from Kentucky (http://www.greasyonline.com/events/tfo_rainelle.pdf) traveling & stopping in Rainelle on their way to The Wall in DC. Part of "Run For The Wall".

The color scheme used for the L.Z. Rainelle Veterans Reunion this year was orange & black. I've included a beautiful wreath that was given to us & was displayed with The Quilt of Tears during the event.

Rainelle is a pretty small West Virginia town but during the five day Quilt display we had the special opportunity to meet many Veterans & families that are affected by illnesses that AO has caused.

The school children from Rainelle Elementary also visited us during that time which is always a pretty special experience & one that we enjoy.

I believe that we helped many of those people with information along with education about AO & the Quilt Of Tears project. We were honored to have been in Rainelle.

Rev. John Steer (***see note below) joined everyone in Rainelle & performed Sunday morning services, which is an honor but one that Henry & I missed.

I do think he would have understood & forgiven us though... A local elderly WW2 Veteran come to see what The Quilts were all about & led to quite a long, very enjoyable visit. He talked of Rainelle, where he spent all of his life with the exception of his service in WW2. (I just love talking & listening to folks like that :o) He had such a proud, knowledgeable soft spoken way about him that blended sense of humor as most of the older Vets do. He left us for a little bit then returned with an old painting of the local area years before, explaining how it used to be. It was indeed a joy to listen to him & tears came to his eyes as he said " You know there is people today that say the Holocaust never happened" I hugged him wiping my own tears & knew that I was exactly where I should have been for Sunday services.

Unfortunately, Henry & I were unable to take extra time off from our jobs this year to travel on to DC to display The Quilts near The Wall on Memorial Day but perhaps next year we will have the time to display both places.