By Phil Clark
Lake Powell Chronicle

PAGE – The Lake Powell Quilters last week had their annual Quilt Retreat. Quilters from across the region attended. As part of their program, the group donated quilts to Page Hospital and to a local military veteran.

Dianne Phipps addressed the group and presented a total of seven quilts to Page Hospital. Phipps worked at the hospital until July 2019, when she retired. She told the group that the hospital has 25 beds and each bed will have a hand made quilt for a patient to use while in the hospital. Each quilt was made by members of the Lake Powell Quilters.  

Each year, the quilters also donate at least one handmade quilt to a veteran from the Page area. This year, the group chose to donate a quilt to Melissa Serventi, a U.S. Army veteran. Serventi was in the first all-female Airborne Division as a nurse. Someone once asked her why she wanted to “jump from a perfectly good airplane.” She told them she really enjoyed it.  

Growing in Page, Serventi graduated Page High School and earned an Army ROTC scholarship. She volunteered at Page Hospital as a candy striper at 13 and became a certified nursing assistant by the age of 16.  In addition to the hospital, she has helped patients at Encompass Health Services, Classic Air Medical, and at Lake Powell Medical Center. She received her ‘gold bar’ for the rank of Second Lieutenant at the same time her fiancé put a gold band on her hand in marriage. Her military service took her to the Seattle; Fort Benning, Georgia; and to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, before returning to her hometown. She is proud that her daughter has enlisted in the U.S. Air Force.

She was humbled by the generosity of the group and looks forward to continuing to serve the community.