Havre woman wins top Rebekah Lodge award

Lillian Rebekah Lodge No. 47 member Delores Welter, of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, sits Tuesday afternoon with a Meritorious medal that she received in June from the statewide Rebekah Assembly and Grand Lodge of Montana at their banquet in Billings for her volunteer work. One of the volunteer projects Welter was recognized for was making homemade neck coolers for soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Delores Welter of Havre was sitting at the Rebekah Lodge state convention in Billings recently, talking to the woman sitting next to her, paying little attention to what was going on at the stage.

So she missed many of the great things presenters were saying about her.

The speaker announced that Delores had won the Meritorious Award, one of the highest honors a Rebekah can achieve. Only one person is allowed to win the award in a state every year, and many years, no award is given.

"My daughter said, 'That's you they are talking about,'" she recalled.

"I'm still in shock," the longtime Rebekah member said.

She started in the junior Rebekah organization when she was 9 years old — she got a dispensation, since people were supposed to be 10. Like many in Rebekahs, membership goes back several generations. In fact, her mother won the same award she received in Billings. Her daughter is following in her footsteps.

Along the way, Delores has headed up the local and state Rebekah organizations and has been involved in all kinds of community service projects for the Rebekahs.

Even with the membership dwindling to eight people, the group does a lot of work ranging from downtown Christmas decorations to Special Olympics to favors for troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.

It takes nearly two years to review nominations for the award, she said. That's why she was amazed she had not heard anything about it.

"A lot of people knew," she said. "But no one told me."

Delores looked back with pride at the many activities she has been involved in, including work in a program that takes young people to see the U.S. Congress, the Canadian Parliament and the United Nations.

In earlier years, she recalled, she chaperoned a group that traveled cross-country on a bus, stopping at interesting spots along the way.

Today, because of insurance concerns, the students travel by plane, but it still is an invaluable experience for the youngsters, who meet students from around the world in addition to touring the historic buildings.

But her most important project in recent years has been sending boxes to military personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan. The most important gift is a neck cooler — a soft collar people can wear around their neck to keep them cool in the hot weather.

She prepared one for her grandson, Matt Heydon, when he was in Iraq, and then sewed some for his colleagues.

"They need to stay cool," she said, "Sometimes they are in tanks for three days, and it can get up to 160 degrees."

She planned to discontinue the project after her grandson returned to the States, but he told her he still had a buddy in Iraq who wanted one of the collars.

So she continued, and has never stopped. When members of the Havre-based National Guard was deployed, she provided each member a neck cooler.

"Right now, I have 65 on the sewing machine ready to finish," she said. They will go to troops in Afghanistan.

The local Rebekahs also work with and contribute to the Boys & Girls Club of the Hi-Line, senior citizens groups, the Giveaway House, and the Railroad Pagers efforts at Beaver Creek Park.

Several years ago, Odd Fellows and Rebekahs sold their downtown lodge. The money was invested, and that enables the group to donate money to worthy causes, she said.