WWII Veteran Gifted a New Roof For Her Birthday

By Evelyn Witterholt. 

Navy Reserves nurse gets the perfect gift of a free roof for her 100th birthday. 

U.S. Veteran Catherine Anthony is known in her hometown of Independence, Kansas City as someone who always looks out for others. To help her celebrate her 100th birthday, her community banded together with the help of organizations and contractors to get her a new roof. 

Anthony served in WWII as a Navy Reserves Nurse, but her good graces extend beyond her time spent at the naval hospital. She is also the Sergeant of Arms at the Heartland Women Veterans American Legion Post 1107. Her friend Danielle Young told KSHB, “We just fell in love with her. And we've been celebrating her birthday constantly for like a year now knowing she was going to get to be 100.” 

The Independence community has a lot of respect for the time Anthony served in WWII. “It's about time we did something to honor her," Young told KSHB. After seeing that Anthony’s roof had some damages, she got in touch with Blake Clarkson, owner of Integrity Roofing, to see what could be done. 

Clarkson was happy to help the veteran out. “It's a once in a lifetime opportunity, not only to meet somebody like that but then to show them how much you appreciate what they've done for us,” he told KSHB. Since his company partners with Owens Corning and Purple Heart Homes, they were able to give the veteran her new roof, free-of-charge. 

Owens Corning has a special initiative called the Home Deployment Project, which aims to show gratitude to veterans across the U.S. by helping them fix their roofs. They teamed up with Purple Heart Homes, an organization that helps out aging veterans, to provide labor and materials for the new roof. 

Even though Anthony wasn’t too worried about her roof before, she is still thankful for the kind offering of her community. She told KSHB, "I think it's wonderful and I may be anxious to see what it looks like."  

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About Evelyn

Evelyn works as a writer for RoofersCoffeeShop and AskARoofer. When she isn’t writing about roofing, she’s either at the gym lifting weights or curled up on the couch watching a movie. 

Photo Credit: KSHB-TV