Surviving Spouse Spotlight Archives | Veterans Care Coordination™

Dorothy Warren, Surviving Spouse of the Month September 2026: wedding photo and photo of the couple on an American flag background

Dorothy Warren: Surviving Spouse of the Month | September 2026 Dorothy Warren is the surviving spouse of U.S. Army Veteran Bill Warren, who served during the Vietnam era as a helicopter pilot. Their story spans nearly 49 years of marriage, military service, loss, and Dorothy’s determination to remain independent at home. Dorothy Warren was…

Surviving Spouse of the Month Helen Bandyke: an old black-and-white portrait beside her smiling with pink roses, over an American flag

Helen Bandyke was the youngest of three daughters born in Detroit, MI. At the age of 15, she lost her mother. Since she was eight years younger than her closest sister, she was the only daughter at home. Her father was a teamster that delivered bricks for a local brickyard. Back then, teamster referred to…

Shirley Worth, Surviving Spouse of the Month: portrait at an event beside a photo with her husband David over an American flag

Shirley Worth was born in St. Louis on March 21, 1937. She was the oldest of eight children, although she was 12 years older than her next sibling. Her mother had seven more children after getting remarried. As a self-admitted wallflower, Shirley enjoyed staying home and didn’t really start to go out until she was…

Collage of Veterans' portraits with the text Our passion begins with our history, and the words Strength, Courage, Respect and Honor

A sense of pride comes with telling someone you work for a company that assists Veterans. Employees at Veterans Care Coordination are privileged to be a part of a company that focuses on helping our most vulnerable yet deserving citizens, aging Veterans. Not only do we strive to provide resources and knowledge to struggling families,…

Surviving Spouse of the Month June 2021: Floye Utter, shown with her husband Arley in a framed photo over a flag

Floye Miller Utter was born in December of 1918 in Rocky Hill, a town 65 miles north of Little Rock, Arkansas. She was the ninth child born into the family but the first to be born in Arkansas in the log cabin on their farm. All thirteen siblings were taught in a one-room schoolhouse…

Surviving Spouse of the Month: Era Williams, with portraits of an older man in a cowboy hat and an older woman over a flag

Emma “Era” Williams, born Emma Baker, was the youngest of eight children born on a ranch in Fort Sumner, NM, in 1923. Era grew up in New Mexico, attending grade school there before her family moved to McLean, TX. In McLean, she attended high school and eventually met her future husband, James “Jake” Williams. Jake…

Surviving Spouse: Finding a New Normal with the help of home care, older woman being comforted in an embrace

Losing a spouse changes the life that a person knows. What was normal is no longer an option. “Death of a spouse” is listed as No. 1 on the Stress Index Scale and is considered one of life’s most devastating events. The physical and emotional effects of losing a spouse range from trouble sleeping and…

Losing a Spouse: older woman sitting alone on a beach bench beside a faint ghostlike figure of a companion

The physical and emotional effects of losing a spouse range from trouble sleeping and lack of appetite to severe depression and an increased risk of heart failure. That’s why caring for seniors who’ve lost their spouse is so important and why we’ve designated October as Healing Hearts month at VCC.

VCC Times: Veterans / Military Spouse Appreciation Day, older couple embracing beside an American flag

I think the purpose of life is to be useful, to be responsible, to be honorable, to be compassionate. It is, above all, to matter, to count, to stand for something, to have made some difference that you lived at all. – Leo Rosten No one knows more intimately the sacrifices our Military Veterans make in…

Home Care For Veterans: Doris Viola Lemberger is our July Veteran Spouse Spotlight! Doris was married to her late husband, Willard Lemberger, for 58 years.