Written by Macklin Reid, Ridgefield Press Staff
Monday, 31 May 2010 05:52
After four decades of quietly writing letters and sending clipping and photos to service personnel from her hometown, Doris Ventres is making a splash.She’ll not only be the grand marshal of Ridgefield’s Memorial Day Parade today, but to do it she turned down an invitation to lead a parade in New York — an honor that came her way now that her television and Web profiles have been growing.
“It’s an honor. I’m glad that I can do it,” she said of leading Ridgefield’s parade.
“I’d rather do it here than New York City” she said. “New York City wanted me down there. They wanted to send a limo and pick me up. It told them they could find someone down there, I’m sure.
“Being on Fox News, that’s what started everything rolling,” she said Monday, May 24. “Last week, I guess it was Sunday, I was on all day, on and off, and that started the ball rolling.”
She gave in to the Ridgefield American Legion’s request that she lead their parade after trying to talk them into making someone else grand marshal.
But she’s happy to do it.
"I’m very proud to be here, and with all my family here for many many years, I’m glad I can be in the parade,” she said.
As grand marshal she’ll be riding in a convertible — probably Fred Whipple’s Mustang — right after the police vehicle at the front of the parade.
“I wanted to walk, but they don’t want me to walk,” she said.
She still seems a little awkward about going from behind-the-scenes worker to so public a role. “I said ‘This gray-haired lady?’ But I’ll still sit there and wave, anyway, I guess.”
Ms. Ventres earned the honor because she has been regularly writing letters to men and women from Ridgefield who are in military service — all of them, to the degree she can get their names and addresses — for as long as many people work in their careers.
“Forty-two years — and I’m not about to give it up,” she said.
“The pen hasn’t run out of ink yet.”
How many letters does she write?
"Fifty-three this month,” she said. “I put a lot time in this month.”
She sent along clippings and pictures of the town hall display honoring service people which the Military Pride Committee put together, and the crowd that turned out for the display’s May 2 opening ceremony.
She says it doesn’t feel the letter writing is a burden.
“When you enjoy it, it just doesn’t seem like work,” she said.
“I’ve got a very understanding husband,” she added.
That would be George Ventres, who is active in veterans work in Ridgefield.
“Of course, he was in the service,” she said. “He’s just come in from selling poppies now.”
The couple has two grown sons, Tad, who’s in Ridgefield, and Dale, now in Montana.
How much time does Ms. Ventres put into the letters in a typical week?
“Maybe about 30 hours. Because I do both sides of an 8-by-10 sheet, usually,” she said. “And I like to send pictures from home — they enjoy that. Articles. I cut articles that I see in the paper...
“And I take a lot of pictures around town — the fairs going on in the summertime, and the pumpkin patch in the fall in front of the church, anything that’s going on. Tell them about going to the ‘Oklahoma’ play that the high school put on, the kids.
“They just like to hear news from home, really, when they’re away like that,” she said. “And if someone else from the unit doesn’t have any mail, I tell them to pass it on.”
Soldiers don’t need to be deployed overseas to get letters from Ms. Ventres.
“The stateside mail, I feel, is just as important as the deployed. They’re away from home, and they’re training.”
Ms. Ventres is one of the dozen or so Ridgefielders who worked on the Military Pride Committee’s town hall display, featuring photos and memorabilia of some 50-odd Ridgefielders in military service — most of them names garnered from Ms. Ventres’ address list.
Working with the other committee volunteers was something she really enjoyed, “That committee was fantastic,” she said.
As with the letter-writing, she couldn’t say how much time she put into it.
“I don’t know. When you’re having a good time, you just don’t count the hours,” she said. “You just don’t seem to, when it’s something you enjoy.”
How many service people does Ms. Ventres figure she’s corresponded with over 42 years she’s been writing letters?
“Oh, my, a lot,” she said.
“They’ve served, retired, and one of them I’m still writing. They want to write back, and the children want to write to me. They become like a family after a while.”
She recalled one service woman who went to high school in Ridgefield and ended up with a long military career that took her to American bases all over globe.
“She lost her parents during that time,” Ms. Ventres said. “She wrote and said, ‘No matter where I was, you never forgot me.’ So, the mail did mean a lot.”
Reactions like that keep Ms. Ventres at her desk.
“I always say, ‘Write, just take the time. Write. You can take time to pray, you can take time to write. Just write,’ ” she said.
“When you go to bed, you can figure, I made somebody happy today.”
