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The National Guard Educational Foundation recognized 14 individual and corporate donations Saturday evening during a special reception at the National Guard Memorial, the NGAUS headquarters in Washington, D.C.
The honorees represent a combined $150,000 in contributions to the NGEF through its Legion de Lafayette program, which is reserved for gifts of $10,000 or more.
The NGEF preserves and shares all 389 years of the Guard story. Among its programs is the National Guard Memorial Museum, which includes 5,600 square feet of artifacts, images and interactive exhibits.
Eight individuals or families were among those recognized.
Twenty-one Guard officers, most of them generals, donated to add the late retired Maj. Gen Paul Weaver to the LdL. The New York Air Guard officer, who died last year, was director of the Air Guard from 1998 to 2001.
The donors noted that Weaver emphasized the integral role that families play in the success of the organization. He would frequently say, “Families can exist without the Air National Guard, but the Air National Guard cannot exist with families.”
Weaver’s wife, Cathylee, son, Joshua Weaver, and daughter, Mackenzie McCain, accepted the honor.
Retired Guard Col. James “Kimo” Bacon, a former Hawaii Army Guard aviator, and his wife, Elizabeth, donated to include the late Virginia Army Guard Col. Paul M. Kelly in the Legion. Kelly and 11 other Soldiers died in a helicopter crash in Baghdad, Iraq, in 2007.
Kelly’s widow, Maria, and two sons, Chief Warrant Officer 2 Paul D. Kelly and 2nd Lt. John J. Kelly, both of whom serve in the Guard, accepted the honor. She said the Guard “immediately mobilized to provide love, support and encouragement,” after the crash.
“With the help of the Guard,” Kelly added, “we were able to navigate the road on our journey through shock, mourning, healing and now thriving.”
The individual and family contributors also included JC Cardinale, a former NGAUS legislative staffer and current consultant; Hawaii Army Guard Maj. Gen. Roy J. Macaraeg, his wife, Bene C. Deguzman, and daughter, Chloe; and retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president, and wife, Kerry.
Macaraeg, the senior military advisor to the assistant secretary of the Army for manpower and reserve affairs, said his family’s donation was simply a way to give back.
“My deepest gratitude to the National Guard for allowing me to serve as an American Soldier, and for everything the National Guard has provided me and my family,” he said.
Retired Oregon Army Guard Lt. Col. Carter “Fritz” McReynolds; retired Lt. Gen. L. Scott Rice, a former Air Guard director, and his wife, Dr. Nancy Rice; and retired Massachusetts Army Guard Lt. Col. Peter Renaghan, a longtime member of the association’s finance committee, and wife, Elizabeth, were also honored for their gifts.
New York Life, Northrop Grumman, Rolls-Royce North America, Shepard Exposition Services, StanleyBlack&Decker and USAA were also recognized for $10,000 donations.
“Shepard proudly support the men and women who courageously serve and protect our national and communities, said Michael Graham, the national sales manager for Shepard, which provides several contract services at the NGAUS general conference.
More information about the LdL program — including a list of more than 300 major donors — is available at www.ngef.org/the-legion-de-lafayette.
— By John Goheen
