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Local woman making quilt for Air Force major widow

The special bed covering will be made from dress blues and fatigues from the widow's husband.

LEXINGTON, S.C. — When we lose loved ones, we have mementos to remember them by. 

This will soon be the case for Rebecca Bennett, a Lexington resident.

She lost her husband John Bennett to ALS just a few months ago. He was a soldier, then officer, then major and veteran, but most importantly, a husband.

"He could make you laugh in an instant and he just knew everything it seems like. You could just ask him a question about anything and he knew the answer. He was very kind and generous," Bennett said.

John was stationed at Shaw Air Force Base and in retiring, the plan was to stay in Lexington. But John got diagnosed with ALS and a year later, he's now no longer with us.

Going through this loss has been heart-wrenching for Rebecca.

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"It's the hardest thing I've ever done. He was everything to me, he was my best friend, my soulmate," Bennett said.

But something she can now remember him by is a quilt, made of his uniforms.

"I've already shed a tear or two and I will pray over this quilt that it can bring her peace and warmth and joy and the memories," Kim Conant, quilter said.

Conant is piecing it together for Rebecca after she put out a request for help on Facebook. 

"I said yes because I think it's just an important thing to do. My husband was in the military. My husband was in the army," Conant said.

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According to military quilt experts, once retired from the military, uniforms can be memorialized in any way shape or form.  

"If your spouse wants to take it and sew it into a quilt, I'm not aware of any uniform violation because she's not in the military, he was," said William Gordon, retired navy chief and quilts of valor representative.

In just a few weeks, Rebecca will have a symbol of the warmth of her husband wrapped around her forever. 

Rebecca tells us her husband John will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery this September.

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