WGEM.com: Quincy News, Weather, Sports, and RadioGood News: Woman irons a labor of love on Memorial Day

Good News: Woman irons a labor of love on Memorial Day

QUINCY, Ill. (WGEM) -- In just a few days, Quincy's Sunset Cemetery at the Illinois Veterans Home will be decorated with a sea of over 7,000 American flags, honoring those who served our country and died in battle.   

Cleaning, ironing and preparing thousands of flags for display. It's a project that would normally to require a dozen people to accomplish. But making it all happen is just one Quincy woman who makes sure every buried veteran gets the recognition they deserve.

For the past decade, Chris Black has made sure that each of the flags that go on the grave stones are worthy of the service men and women have provided. With her trusty iron and half-century old ironing board, Black painstakingly irons every star and stripe.

"I bring a bin home. I iron them. I roll them," Black said. "I clean them if they need cleaning and then I take them back and trade them for the next bin."

The enormous act of kindness and patriotism started simply enough. Black and her husband George volunteered to put up the flags at the Veterans Home 11 years ago, when Chris was not satisfied by the condition of the flying flags.

"I said why couldn't some organization take this on as a project and clean these flags up and press them?" Black said. " And they laughed at me. They said nobody wants to do that. And I said I will."

With 600 to 1,000 flags in each bin, Black works for months, ironing sometimes hours a day, until all the flags are pressed and ready to fly. Black estimates that the entire project takes over 70 hours to prepare all of the flags.

But it's not just Chris doing all the hard work. George helps with the process out in his wood shop.

"I just repair the ones that need new sticks on them, or need an extra staple, or need tips on them," George Black said. "I like the flags with tips on them. I think they look better."

The Blacks say it's not about recognition, but to honor the lives of those buried at the Veterans Home cemetery.

The Blacks hope residents take a moment to visit the cemetery over Memorial Day weekend, honoring the service men and women and to see the flags.

"If there's a little bit of wind it's just gorgeous," Chris Black said. "Because they flutter, there's 7,000 of them."

Chris says she is ready to pass on the tradition of ironing the flags. If you would like to take over the task, contact John Wingerter at the Quincy Illinois Veterans Home at 217-222-8641, ext. 210

Students from Washington School will start putting the flags out tomorrow. And a local Boy Scout Troops has volunteered to take the flags down.

The flags will be up until the end of May and Sunset Cemetery is open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

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