A Closer Walk

Although they live in Winston-Salem, you can often see Betsy McNichols and her father, Col. Robert F. Steidtmann, U.S. Marine Corps (Ret.), age 92, walking around Shallowford Square. Betsy says the short drive to the Square and the fairly level terrain there make it an ideal walking location for them. The “1938” emblem on the Colonel’s hat commemorates the year he graduated from Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia.

Update

Update on 4/23/10: Earlier this week, I spotted Betsy McNichols walking by herself at Shallowford Square and learned that her father passed away on September 11, 2009 at age 93. Col. Steidtmann was buried in a family plot in an old cemetery in Lexington, Virginia. (General Stonewall Jackson is buried just up the hill from the Colonel’s grave.)

Col. Steidtmann served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II at Guadalcanal, Tulagi, and Guam —  and later fought in the Korean War, earning the Legion of Merit with valor for “Exceptionally Meritorious Conduct.”

The weather was beautiful the day the Colonel was buried. And, Betsy said, just as beautiful was the sight of more than 10 U.S. Marines in full-dress uniform standing at attention near the gravesite. Betsy knows her father would have been proud of the service, which included a 21 Gun Salute, with Taps played by a sailor in dress whites.

Betsy still lives in Winston-Salem, but she continues to walk around Shallowford Square regularly as a tribute to her father.