‘I Love Honoring Our Heroes’: How Veteran Bob Morris, 86, Transformed an Ohio Nursing Home
His volunteer mission helps veterans share memories that families may have never heard before
Key Takeaways
- Army veteran Bob Morris, 86, has volunteered at an Ohio nursing home for nearly 20 years.
- Bob created a military memento room to spark memories and healing for resident veterans.
- The room proudly honors women in the military, the Coast Guard, and wartime Rosie the Riveters.
For nearly 20 years, Army veteran Bob Morris has volunteered at an Ellisville, Ohio, nursing home, where he delivers mail, swaps stories and maintains a special room full of military mementos. Here, he shares his story with Woman’s World.
“One of our former residents donated this,” the director of Ellisville Rehabilitation and Nursing told Bob Morris, holding up an American flag that had once flown over the Capitol. “She said her dad wanted us to have it. Should we hang it somewhere?”
“Definitely,” said Bob, a veteran of the Army and Army Reserves.
Now 86, Bob has been a regular volunteer at the Ohio facility for the nearly 20 years since he retired. He loves talking with the seniors, like the 101-year-old World War II veteran who was sharp as a tack or the retired letter carrier who actually fought in the Battle of Iwo Jima.
“Let’s hang it here,” Bob said as he and the director entered a small conference room with bare white walls.
“Perfect,” the director agreed, and Bob hung the flag.
“It looks lonely in here all by itself,” one resident observed. “I still have my husband’s military discharge papers. Maybe we can hang them on one of the other walls?”
Other donations of photos, medals and uniforms followed.
And yet, even more was needed.
“Where are the female vets?” a resident named Lisa asked Bob. “And why is there nothing about the Coast Guard, where I served?”
Bob addressed the oversight immediately, creating a display with a Coast Guard flag for Lisa. He added several photos of military women, and when a family member offered him her deceased mother’s treasured print of Rosie the Riveter, Bob gave it a prominent spot—a tribute to all the women who served at home and overseas.
Bob’s memorial room became a place that sparked conversations and stories between the residents and their families.
“I never knew Dad went through so much during the war. He never talked about it until now,” one woman told Bob, and she wasn’t the last.
As years passed, the center’s World War II vets were replaced by veterans of the Korean War, and, more recently, by Vietnam vets — like 78-year-old Russell Kennon, who served in field artillery.
“I had five high school classmates who went with me and didn’t come home,” he still grieves. “This is wonderful,” he says of Bob’s work. “It gives people like me the chance to honor others who weren’t as lucky.”
Bob still spends several days a week at the facility, and he has no plans to slow down.
“I love honoring our nation’s heroes,” he says. “Every letter, picture and medal tells a story that deserves to be honored and remembered.”
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