Illinois Veterans Home signs paid for by Cherish the Memories group dedicated on Veterans Day

QUINCY — A series of signs throughout the Illinois Veterans Home campus were dedicated Friday on Veterans Day.

Signs providing information about Lake Illinois, the Veterans Home, the Dudley Home, the Shirlee Northern Memorial Garden and Deer Park have been installed. Renovation work on the “Soldiers and Sailors Home” sign at the entrance to the home near the intersection of Eighth and Locust recently was completed. 

Teresa Pickle and Cathy Shanks, retired nurses at the home, have combined with Linda King to coordinate Cherish the Memories, which raises money to supplement the work by the state and the Veterans Administration at the home.

Cherish the Memories has paid for:

• 51 powder-coated park benches
• 21 picnic tables
• Aeration system for Lake Illinois
• Painting and repair of all wrought iron fences on the IVH grounds.
• Fountain at Memorial Garden.
• Cement pads for signs 

The group also plans to place nine repaired cast iron flower urns at the mansion and the home’s stone building, as well as paint, repair mortar and complete landscaping at the guard shack on Locust Street.