Gold Star Mothers chapters make reappearance

[ribrepin]

ALGONA -- Four mothers from around the Seattle area, driven by a powerful bond, drew together here on a recent Sunday.

They lit memorial candles, set up a small potluck while the aroma of their baking cookies filled the kitchen of the Filipino American community center. The cars they had parked outside hinted at their sisterhood:

Gold Star Mothers Myra Rintamaki, left, Shellie Starr and Linda Swanberg stand behind a memorial to their sons at their group's quarterly meeting in Algona. Gold Star Mothers is a support group made up of mothers of service members killed in a war.
Decals with a gold star on a field of white, trimmed in red.

Myra Rintamaki, Shellie Starr, Linda Swanberg and DeEtte Wood are among the founding mothers of Washington State Gold Star Mothers, a resurrection of the organization for mothers of U.S. troops killed in war. Most chapters faded away after the Vietnam War.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/294489_goldstar02.html