A gift of home

With her home decorated for the holidays, Lillian McCarty, her dog Cheko on her lap, enjoys a conversation with Ray Schnitker (left), a homeless veteran wounded in the Korean War and the latest of the homeless veterans who have found a home at her residence since 1987.

At Lillian McCarty’s residence this time of year, yet another disabled American veteran is feeling at home for the holidays. 

Actually, that’s been going on for nearly 20 years now as McCarty, of Neillsville, has been providing homeless veterans with a place to live not only during the Christmas season, but the rest of the year, as well.

Back in 1987, McCarty, who had been recently widowed, as looking for a way to make ends meet.  The income she receives for caring for veterans still helps her get by.  But the satisfaction she’s gotten from the experience has been a special reward, McCarty said last week.

McCarty will admit to being a caring person able to make the best of a situation.  "I suppose I can thank my mother for instilling in me the philosophy that when times get rough, if you have a will, you will find a way," she said.  "The extra income from the Veterans Administration for taking in homeless veterans has pulled me through."

She’s had a good life, McCarty said, recalling being brought up on a farm with five brothers.  She and her late husband, Fred, were married while he was in the Army during World War II.  "He would not talk about the war, but I could tell that he went through a lot.  It made me appreciate what our servicemen and women do for us," said McCarty.  "My heart always went out to the veterans who became homeless and struggled to find their way."

Most of the veterans who have stayed at McCarty’s home have had mental problems.  Some had to be heavily medicated.  McCarty made certain they received their medication in addition to cleaning their room, doing their laundry and preparing home-cooked meals for them.

When the veterans were not watching TV or reminiscing on the back porch of her home on nice days, she would take them fishing, for a drive in the county or on a visit to a relative in a nursing home, McCarty said.

But McCarty remains convinced that visits from her grandchildren and the company of her pet dog were often the best therapy for the lonely men who had no real family to call their own.

"When the veterans were well enough to get back into life’s main-stream, some of them would send me letters or Christmas cards thanking me for my help and to let me know how they were doing," she said.  "Some would call me from time to time.  I shared a lot with these homeless veterans and have some really good memories."

McCarty has had two veterans staying at her home in the past.  These days, she has only one.  He’s 93-year-old Raymond Schnitker, a veteran of the National Guard in the late 1930s who was activated during the Korean War.  He was wounded in combat and has been permanently disabled ever since.

Schnitker has his own space, including a private bedroom and bath room, in McCarty’s large mobile home in the Grand View Park east of Neillsville.

McCarty’s home has been the only one Schnitker has known since 1996.  The food, shelter and caring she’s provided is very much appreciated.  "It’s all right with me," said Schnitker, who never married and only has an elderly brother still living.

Without people like McCarty, he wouldn’t have a place he can call a real home, Schnitker said.  "I wouldn’t know where to go," he said.

As much as she enjoys caring for veterans, she is slowing down, said McCarty, now 82 years of age, who also does volunteer work at Memorial Medical Center’s hospital auxiliary in Neillsville.

There will come a time, she said, when she won’t be able to do this.  She’s hoping others will come forward to take in homeless veterans.

"I’ve appreciated the chance to do something to make them happy," she said, adding that they deserve it, for their service to their country. 

As her herself, said McCarty, "This is the most rewarding thing that I’ve done."