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***image1***Connie Tallon and Norman Raynal are two folks dedicated to serving the
military community in more than the everyday Defense Commissary Agency
way. They support the Landstuhl Fisher House – Tallon with her heart
and Raynal with his feet, and all the aches and pains that go with them.
Tallon, Vogelweh commissary store director, lost her husband Michael,
former security manager for DeCA Europe, to cancer in July 2005.
Throughout his illness, he was treated at the Landstuhl Regional
Medical Center, across the street from the Fisher houses.
Fisher House supports America’s military personnel and their families
by providing “a home away from home” during sickness and injury in a
home-like setting at a low cost.
“The doctors, nurses and chaplains at the Landstuhl hospital were
wonderful to Mike and me,” said Tallon. “Being cared for in a place
where we all had something in common made a difficult time a bit
easier.”
When her husband – a 20 year veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps – passed
away, Tallon and her family wanted to repay the support and kindness
and established the Michael Tallon Memorial Fund. Donations to this
fund pay the overnight costs of patients or family members staying at
the Landstuhl Fisher houses during cancer treatment. Additionally, as a
salute to the Marine Corps, Marines and their families in need can also
receive assistance.
“From November 2005, when I established the fund, through March 2006,
237 nights at the houses have been paid,” said Tallon. “On occasion, I
meet some of the people helped through the fund and later receive cards
and letters from them.
“It was difficult to lose Michael,” Tallon said, “but this fund helps me honor him every day and turns the bad into some good.”
Meanwhile, Norman Raynal, a project manager at DeCA Europe, is known
for being a hiking enthusiast through the German Volksmarch club, the
Sunny Coyotes. This hiking resulted in his idea to make marathon hikes
in support of the Fisher House.
In 2005, he completed five marathons sponsored by individuals and
companies and earned $15,324 which he turned over to Fisher House
manager, Kathy Gregory, to pay lodging costs as well. “That’s enough to
pay for 1,532 nights,” said Raynal.
Recovering from last year’s 130 miles of marathon Volksmarches, he has
begun lifting his feet again in 2006 with a goal of raising $20,000
through another round of supported walking.
“As a former Army man myself and with a son currently in the Army, I
have a great fondness for the military and an appreciation of what is
happening today in the Iraqi conflict. It is an honor to be able to
help in this way,” said Raynal.
Not only does he walk to raise money, if you visit the Landstuhl houses
you just might bump into Raynal changing the bed sheets or sweeping the
floors in his off hours.
-For more information on the efforts of both Tallon and Raynal, go to
www.sponsormywalk.info or e-mail talloncandm@interquest.de.
