When it comes to thanking a veteran, words don’t always suffice.

But a quilt just might.

That’s Marilyn Canitz’s way of thinking.

And she would know.

An avid quilter, Canitz is the wife of a retired soldier, the mother of a deployed airman and a former Army dietician who spent four years in the service.

In 2004 she began Quilts From The Heart, a club of volunteer crafters who make blankets for those in crisis — mostly children with ties to organizations like the Ronald McDonald House, Urban Peak and Memorial Children’s Hospital.

Last year Canitz realized that local veterans are in crisis, too, and altered the club’s mission to include the making of patriotic quilts for veterans.

Since then, 25 of the 6,000 quilts made and distributed by the club have gone to veterans in a Florissant retirement home, and 90 more are headed that way, Canitz said.

She and her fellow quilters are targeting their efforts, serving wounded, disabled and World War II veterans first.

“I know I’ve taken on too much — I know that,” Canitz said. “But there are so many veterans who haven’t been thanked for their service, and I think it’s important that they be remembered while they’re still alive.

“We can’t make enough fast enough.”

Every Monday and two Thursdays a month the club of 50 quilters meets, often at the Disabled American Veterans’ Chapter 26 on Palmer Park Boulevard, to crank out as many quilts as they can in assembly line fashion.

A majority of veterans’ quilts aren’t big enough to cover an entire body — and it’s not because the nonprofit is often in desperate need of funds to buy fabric.

“Most quilts are 45 by 60 inches; they’re not bedside quilts,” Canitz said. “They’re hugs.”

All veterans’ quilts are lined with a strip of navy blue fabric covered with phrases like “American hero,” “thank you” and “you are my hero” — just a strip because at $16 a yard, Canitz must stretch the fabric as far as it can go.

“The price of fabric is not cheap,” Canitz said. “It costs about $70 a quilt just for the fabric to make one.”

The vast majority of Canitz’s quilters share a common thread besides their love of the craft: Most have at least one service affiliation.

Some are veterans’ wives. Some are veterans’ widows. Others are military moms.

The club’s ranks even boast an elderly Marine veteran — the club’s lone male — and a gold-star mom.

Marilyn Stites is that gold-star mom. Her son died of suicide in 2000 while at basic training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Stites began quilting in 2005, when she made T-shirt quilts from her son’s shirts for her three daughters.

She joined Quilts From The Heart several months ago and says she finds the meetings therapeutic.

“To give something back is always healing,” said Stites, whose husband served three years in the Army.

Jodi Wilson has been attending the club for two and a half years and quilting for nearly a half a century.

A military brat and the wife of a retired airman, Wilson said the veterans’ quilts she makes have special meaning.

“When my husband served in Vietnam, it was a ‘don’t tell anybody your husband’s in Vietnam’ type situation,” she said. “When he came back, they were treated very poorly — not like it is now.

“Because most veterans are of that era, I feel very strongly about making these.”

Photo by

Jodi Wilson, military brat and wife of a retired airman, stitches a veteran’s quilt during a Monday, April 23 meeting of Quilts From The Heart at Disabled American Veterans Chapter 26, located on Palmer Park Boulevard. Since last year Quilts From The Heart has made over 100 quilts for local veterans, mainly wounded, disabled and World War II veterans. Photo by Erin Prater/ Special to The Gazette

Jodi Wilson, military brat and wife of a retired airman, stitches a veteran’s quilt during a Monday, April 23 meeting of Quilts From The Heart at Disabled American Veterans Chapter 26, located on Palmer Park Boulevard. Since last year Quilts From The Hear Photo by Erin Prater/ Special to The Gazette