Four times each year, The Villages Honor Flight program flies 68 military veterans to Washington, D.C., to see their respective war memorials. Two Niagara University nurses ensure their safety and comfort during the journey.
Honor Flight medical team co-coordinators Sara Brooks Houston, ’80, and Mary McMorrow DeFranco, ’76, didn’t realize they were both Purple Eagles until Houston saw DeFranco’s NU magnet on the rear of her car and asked, “Did you or your husband go to Niagara University?”
They found it to be a strange coincidence that two NU nurses were managing the medical team, and that three other alumnae, Patricia DeGrechie Quinn, ’75, Alice Conlon Adams, ’76, and Colleen Corcoran Camp, ’76, were also on the team. DeFranco attributes it to a “clear passion for volunteerism.”
For DeFranco, who relocated to Florida after retiring as a nursing professional development/diabetes educator at Westchester Medical Center in New York, it is a way to honor “people who raise their right hand and give their time and often their lives to protect this country, especially the Vietnam vets who never had a true welcome home. Now that I am retired and have the luxury of free time, this seemed like a great way to give back.” She’s been volunteering with the organization for about four years.
DeFranco, Houston, and their team conduct extensive medical screenings for each of the veterans accepted for a flight and their guardians, and assign the six medical personnel who will accompany them. DeFranco and Houston alternate as lead medical staff on the flights.
“We leave Florida at 1 a.m. on the day of the flight and return to Florida from D.C. around 11:30 p.m. on the same day!” said DeFranco. “Yes exhausting, but so worth it!”
“I just love these veterans,” she continued. “It is an honor and a privilege to interact with them and to ensure they are able to receive the acknowledgement they deserve for their sacrifice in serving our country.”