“The Army has quite a few quippy phrases, and one of them is, if they want you to have a spouse, they will issue you a spouse. Well, I guess we got issued to each other,” said Rebecca Arthington of her marriage to her husband, Bill. The two Army veterans and DAV members have been married for 38 years.
Bill and Rebecca met while stationed at Fort Riley, Kansas. After they were married, the Arthingtons were fortunate to continue to be stationed together in Germany. Later on, they again served together at Fort Riley. After they retired from the Army, each sought benefits advocacy through DAV and ultimately decided to become DAV life members together.
One day while reading DAV Magazine, they came across an article describing the opportunity to support their fellow disabled veterans through a charitable gift annuity. They decided to make a gift to DAV together.
first Christmas dinner together as a married couple in 1988.
“We have been very blessed with making some good decisions over time. And [when the pandemic happened], we stayed at home and didn’t go to the movies or baseball games, so we saved some money,” said Rebecca. “When we read the article about the annuity program, it made us start thinking about giving.”
Bill has witnessed firsthand the impact of the DAV Transportation Network in helping veterans get to their Department of Veterans Affairs medical appointments.
“In Kansas, there’s the Topeka VA hospital. I see [veterans] coming out of the DAV vans and talk to some of them,” said Bill. “They say, ‘If it wasn’t for the DAV van, I wouldn’t be coming up here [for health care].’”
“It’s a way of giving back, paying it forward,” said Rebecca. “It’s good to know there are folks out there who can benefit from what we can give.”
For more information
- Call 800-216-9802, press 1
- Email giftplanning@dav.org
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