CORONAVIRUS (COVID-19) RESOURCE CENTER Read More
Add To Favorites

World War II veteran, longtime hospital volunteer celebrates 100th birthday

The Evening News and The Tribune - 6/24/2021

Jun. 24—JEFFERSONVILLE — A World War II veteran and longtime hospital volunteer celebrated a major birthday milestone this week as community members, friends and family members gathered to show their love and appreciation.

Jeffersonville resident Verner Ferguson celebrated his 100th birthday Wednesday with two community celebrations.

Clark Memorial Health presented a birthday party in the afternoon for Ferguson, who volunteered for more than 35 years at the hospital.

The party was followed by an evening celebration at Mission BBQ in Clarksville, which was much more than a birthday day dinner.

It started with a 21-gun salute from an honor guard with the VFW Hobart Beach Post 1693 of New Albany, which came as a surprise to Ferguson.

He was joined by family, neighbors and community members for a festive party that included performances of World War II-era songs by Ladies for Liberty, a Louisville singing group.

"I've had a good day, but this tops it all," Ferguson said during the Mission BBQ celebration.

In addition to the two celebrations Wednesday, the Honor Flights Bluegrass organization also invited him to a special flight in a B-25 twin-engine bomber plane with other World War II veterans. That flight took place Sunday in Frankfort and toured Kentucky.

"There's less than 300,000 [World War II veterans] left in the country, so any opportunity we get to honor them, we take advantage of it," said Kelli Oakley, an officer with Honor Flights Bluegrass.

Ferguson's granddaughter, Kelly Murphy, said Honor Flight Bluegrass contacted her family about honoring her grandfather's birthday.

"It started out as a birthday drive collecting birthday cards, so they've advertised and got over 500 birthday cards, so their plan was to give it to him on his birthday," she said.

But the plans just kept growing. His neighborhood reached out to the family about a birthday celebration for Ferguson, and they joined the Wednesday celebration at the restaurant.

Murphy said they kept the big celebration at Mission BBQ a secret, and "he had no idea what he was walking into."

When asked for the secrets of his longevity, Ferguson always has one answer: staying busy.

And he has certainly kept busy throughout his long life, whether that's through his military service or years of volunteering after his retirement.

Ferguson said he was drafted on his 21st birthday in 1942, and he went into service in the U.S. Army in 1943.

He completed basic training in Texas, and from there he went to Europe to serve as a squad leader. He was stationed in England shortly before D-Day, and his division landed at Omaha Beach Normandy 18 days after D-Day.

"All the excitement was pretty well over by that time," Ferguson said. "I had a machine gun squad, and we fought the hedgerows, and I spent about four months in combat, then I got pneumonia and had to go to the hospital."

From there, he was sent to work in a replacement depot, where he stayed until the end of the war.

After his military service, he had a long career working at Marathon in Illinois before retiring and moving to Jeffersonville.

He started volunteering at the hospital in 1985 and didn't stop until the pandemic hit.

"When I retired, I just sat at home with nothing to do, so I told my wife, I'm going to do something, I don't know what," he said. "She said 'why don't you go down to the hospital and see if you can volunteer down there,' so I did."

When he started out, he was pushing coffee carts around the hospital to waiting areas. He volunteered in multiple capacities over the years, including working with Clark Memorial's Lifeline service to install medical alerts in people's homes and years of working in the hospital's gift shop.

"I like to do things for people," Ferguson said.

He said he had a "marvelous" time celebrating with familiar faces from the hospital.

Martin Padgett, CEO at Clark Memorial Health, said he felt honored to celebrate Ferguson's birthday and service to the hospital.

"It's not only his age — he volunteered with the hospital since 1985, which is just amazing," he said.

Kelly Walker, gift shop manager at the hospital, said she has worked with Ferguson for most of her 17 years at the shop.

"It's an honor and privilege to work with him, to know him and to love him," she said.

Before COVID-19 hit, he was still running the register in the gift shop, and everyone loved to come in to talk with him.

"Everybody loves it when he's working because they love talking to him — he's such a joy," Walker said. "He's just got a bubbly personality. He's friendly and cheerful and just lovable."

Murphy said her grandfather has been "overwhelmed with emotions" during his Wednesday birthday celebrations.

"We're very lucky to have him," she said. "He's definitely a special man."

___

(c)2021 The Evening News and The Tribune (Jeffersonville, Ind.)

Visit The Evening News and The Tribune (Jeffersonville, Ind.) at newsandtribune.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.