Newark woman dedicates home mural to Navy veteran
A St. Louisville man was honored earlier this year after his aide painted a mural on her home in honor of his military service.
Debbie Piper has worked for the Granville-based Home Instead, which provides in-home senior care, and in the last year, began helping Doug and Nancy Pound at their St. Louisville home.
"It took us two hours to find this house. We were on empty. The first day, I came in and I had read my assessment. It said he (Doug) liked to cook and he liked to talk about God," Piper said. "Well, I brought my Easter pageant pictures where I had helped actually do the set. And she's (Nancy) a fantastic artist. Well, she liked art and he loved God, and I just loved them both."
Doug Pound enlisted in the U.S. Navy out of high school. He worked on electronics initially aboard an aircraft carrier and then as an air crewman for the last 14 years of his service, where his responsibility was to fix electronics in flight, such as computers, sensor equipment, radars, and radios. Pound served during the end of the Vietnam War and in the Gulf War.
His favorite memories, he said, are of his travels.
"I wasn't a rich man and the Navy took me all over the world," he said, listing places such as Spain, Italy, France, Germany, Norway, and Iceland as places he's been. Pound said he was able to take his wife along with him on some deployments and they lived in Hawaii for two years.
Born and raised in Newark, Pound said he met his wife in Florida and they returned to Licking County after finding a deal on their current property.
According to Pound, he completed 20 years of active duty and 10 years fleet reserve for a total of 30 years of service. He is now considered service-connected disabled.
"Then the sickness reared up. I got bit by mosquitos in Africa. It's not contagious and the mosquitos are not even in North America or central or South America," Pound said. "It destroyed my lymphatic system. I can't get fluid off me. And they have no cure for it. I went to Africa in 1993, but it didn't show a head until about 2006, 2007."
Pound said his faith is his saving grace, and his wife said he never complains.
"Most of the time, Doug's been very cheerful. He knows every time you look up, you see blessings. There's so many out there that don't have it and don't have the hope," Nancy said. "We've got that faith and hope and that's what brings us through."
Debbie and her husband, Merle Piper, moved from Alexandria to their current home in Newark earlier this year. Debbie said she decided she'd like to paint something on their garage.
"When we decided to put an eagle on the garage, I decided we should dedicate it to Doug. I asked Doug if I could do that before I asked my husband," Debbie said with a laugh. "I was thinking about Doug and I couldn't put it on the house. I wanted people to see it and see their names. Not just for us to see, but the whole neighborhood."
The 103 by 42 inch mural spans the width and length of the couple's garage door at their Newark home. It features an eagle, along with Doug and Nancy Pound's names and Doug's rating badge when he retired from the Navy as a chief petty officer.
"Debbie is the perfect example of what an aide should be. You couldn't find any better of a business and the people that are there (at Home Instead). We're so thankful," Doug Pound said. "Because we couldn't do the things that we do without her helping."
Doug Pound said Debbie and Merle are like family to them now, and Nancy described Debbie as her right arm.
"It's special, to put it on their own house," Doug Pound said. "It was an honor to serve and then for someone to recognize my service. It just touched me that she wanted to do something and dedicate it to my wife and I for our service to the country."
This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Newark woman dedicates home mural to Navy veteran
