For the past 13 years, Shelly Davis has been working with veterans at the Bennion Veterans Home in Payson as the therapy director, with the goal of giving each resident a proper thank-you.
“I grew up as a veteran’s daughter,” she said. “I always wished I could have done all these things for my dad.”
The things she is referring to are events like a recent Veterans Ride put on by the Elks Club and Diamond Fork Rodeo Club that gave many veterans the chance to ride horses again.
“Every year, the Elks Club and Diamond Fork Rodeo Club put on this ride in honor of veterans,” she said. “They get all the horses at the arena in Spanish Fork and have a barbecue and we get veterans up on horses.”
The event has been going on for the past 10 years, and Davis said that watching the men and women ride horses is something she and the people she works with look forward to each year.
“We have a lady in a wheelchair with no legs, and they carried her and put her up on a horse,” she said. “There is a guy that can’t really use much of his body and they all held him on the horse.
“We have one gentleman that taught buckaroo rodeo,” she added. “He was also a bull rider in the rodeo club, and he had an accident in his 30s. He’s our youngest veteran here, and every year we get him up on a horse. He can’t walk much anymore, but they all just hoist him up on the horse and he and his brothers rode side-by-side again for the first time a couple of years ago. I just get chills when I think about it.”
Davis told about a veteran who worked for the Forest Service and often rode horses as part of his job. Getting him up on a horse with his grandsons a few years back, she said, is an example of why this event has been so important over the years.
“About five years ago, we got him and his grandsons up on a horse and got their pictures together,” she said. “A week later, he passed away. For months, his grandsons would send me messages saying, ‘Thank you so much. That was my best memory, just being on a horse with my grandpa.’ … It’s really amazing watching these veterans up on a horse. You see tears in their eyes because they didn’t think they’d ever be able to ride again.”
Davis said that they have 109 veterans at the Bennion Veterans Home, ranging in ages 36 to 102 years old.
“We have from World War 2 down to Afghanistan,” she said. “We recently took them to a big rodeo in Manti that’s for veterans on Memorial Day, and it was amazing to see them be honored again. Watching all of them get honored the way they deserve is pretty amazing.
“I lost my dad 20 years ago, and he was a Vietnam War veteran,” she added. “It’s been great to be able to do it with all these veterans. I wish I could have done this stuff for him, but to see all these organizations come together to honor them has been really great to be a part of.”
Davis said that they do several events each month, and this June they will hold the annual Community Car Show, which is an event that directly benefits veterans. The event is on June 20 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 1551 N. Main St. in Payson. For more information, email Josie.sessions@avalonhealthcare.com or call 801-465-5416.
