ROYAL CITY - Planning to retire after 28 years in education, June Moore bought a $35,000 long-arm quilting machine with plans to start a business and finish out her life with a new type of living.

Moore will finish with a new type of living, all right, but it won't be a business. Toiling voluntarily, she makes quilts for war veterans of the U.S. military, and she says it's the most satisfying thing she's done.

"I'll probably quilt till I drop," she said recently.

Moore grew up in Vantage and studied at Central Washington University. She was working at Yakima's Eisenhower High when she met and married Royal City farmer Michael Moore and moved here.

Moore substituted at various area schools for a while, then landed a 22-year math and science assignment at Ephrata High, and later Ephrata Middle School, from which she retired in 2006.

Although Moore planned to retire from teaching, she did not intend to become inactive. Assessing her assets, she decided to go back to quilting, which she started to learn at the age of nine in a 4-H Club led by her mother.

There are a lot of women, and some men, who like to quilt. But they don't like going through the lengthy process of 100 years ago. They prefer making the front of a quilt and then having someone else add the batting and back on a quilting machine.

"I sandwich them together," Moore said.

In 2003, Moore had a little money from an inheritance. She decided to invest in a machine and become a professional quilter. The business possibilities were grand.

But in January of 2005, Moore became aware of Quilts of Valor, which was started by Catherine Roberts of Seaford, Del. Robert's oldest son had been deployed to Iraq, and she was prompted to "do something" on the home front. 

Roberts's earliest quilt was delivered to Walter Reed Army Medical Center. QOV was organized and launched and, today, more than 42,000 QOV have been delivered to war vets.

"We've got a backlog of people who are deserving," Moore said.

The scope and reach of QOV has grown. World War II and Vietnam vets have received quilts. 

"Our mission is to love those who have been touched by war. We know not all injuries bleed," Moore said.

"I hope we don't lose another generation of young people, like we did with Vietnam vets, who felt alienated and unappreciated," she added.

Moore learned about the Viet heartbreak first hand when she attended the Bellingham showing of the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall in 2009. The QOV was invited, and 10 women, including Moore and Roberts, attended.

The QOV members took 40 quilts to the event, unsure of what would happen with them. When they saw the long line of Viet vets lined up to see the wall, they knew. All  40 were taken.

"One of them said: 'Ma'am, I've been waiting 43 years for someone to say thank you,'" Moore said. "I have a picture of one holding his quilt, crying, looking at the name of his friend on the wall. 

"The purpose, it's like a healing. There's always tears."

The Bellingham experience is one Moore will never forget. Neither will she forget an invitation to Washington, D.C. that same year to attend the U.S. Marine Commandant's Summer Parade and Review.

"There were Marines everywhere and generals from all different countries," she said.

Moore is not the lone area quilter doing QOV. There is an Ephrata Group made up of 25 quilters from the region. They meet every Tuesday and have produced hundreds of QOV. 

In 2010, the Ephrata Group presented 250 to the 1161st National Guard unit of Ephrata when it returned from Iraq.

One of the proudest area quilters was Al Lind, a retired George farmer who made 400 QOV before he died at the age of 92. He had been a prisoner of war in Germany during WWII.

"He was making 6-12 quilts a month," Moore said. "He would get up every day and quilt, and that is what he did."

Annette Mullins of Desert Aire, who has a long-arm quilting machine, has made some of the QOV, Moore noted.

Moore has been involved in the making of as many as 250 QOV. She has done about 25 from start to finish. 

Roberts, who moved to Anacortes three years ago, continues to be the CEO-like leader of the QOV Foundation. But a year ago she bestowed the assignment of director of the foundation on Moore. The two women, now close friends, are in communication almost daily.

"I'm the one who directs the traffic. She deals with the board and public relations," Moore said.

Moore is always on the lookout for new quilters, especially among the young. She plans to make a presentation to the National 4-H Extension Agents meeting  in Nebraska in October.

Surely there are others who would like the feeling of accomplishment that comes from serving those who serve the nation.