Bonaventure Senior Living Honors the Veterans Who Call Its Communities Home

From a 96-year-old postwar Navy volunteer to an Air Force senior master sergeant who aided Oklahoma City bombing survivors, six residents share their stories

SALEM, OR, UNITED STATES, November 11, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — This Veterans Day, Bonaventure Senior Living is honoring the veterans who live in its communities across Oregon and Washington. While there are many veterans living in Bonaventure’s 24 communities, six residents share their stories and show a range service. Living at four Bonaventure communities in Salem, Keizer, Lake Oswego and Lacey these dedicated veteran residents served in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps and National Guard, stretching from the years after World War II into the 1990s. Their stories range from Alaska winters at 64 below zero to the Vietnam War, the Persian Gulf and the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.

“Our residents served all over the world, and many of them still talk about their service as simply something they knew they should do,” said Chloe Gray, sales and marketing director for Bonaventure Senior Living. “Veterans Day is our chance to listen to their stories and thank them, in every one of our communities.”

Bonaventure of Salem: From an Oregon farm to Air Force senior master sergeant
Carol Bova-Rice grew up on a farm in Grants Pass and had never left Oregon or California. She expected to spend her life as a mother and housewife. Instead, she followed her husband into the Air Force and built a career in medical logistics, retiring as a superintendent and senior master sergeant (E-8) after 12 years in Germany and eight in Texas.

In Germany, she helped build a 750-bed contingency hospital in Donaueschingen that stood ready but never had to be activated. She was stationed at Tinker Air Force Base on April 19, 1995, when a truck bomb destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. She used sign language to help survivors and got ponchos and supplies to workers at the scene.

“It made my life,” she said of her service. A resident of Bonaventure of Salem for seven years, Bova-Rice plans the community’s Veterans Day recognition each year. On Nov. 10, she led a flag ceremony with a Junior ROTC color guard, and each veteran in the community received a certificate.

Bonaventure at Keizer Station: Three veterans, three eras
Larry Wasson served in the Army during the Vietnam era as a specialist 4th class, driving for his commanding officer. From 1965 to 1967 he was stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, where he spent two winters and saw temperatures from 64 below zero to 86 degrees in summer.

Daryl Chappel served four years in the Marine Corps and 20 years in the Army, including as a platoon sergeant in the Vietnam War. His decorations include two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars. He likes to tell of pushing aside a bush while leading his platoon and coming face to face with a 7-foot king cobra. “The military helped me to communicate with people,” he said. He remains active with the VFW and the American Legion.

Alan Takayama served in both the Army and the Navy during the Cold War, rising to the top enlisted grade, E-9, as a sergeant major, in charge of storekeepers. Aboard the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise in the late 1980s, he was part of operations to protect oil platforms in the Persian Gulf.

Oswego Place by Bonaventure: “It felt right”
Ed Thompson, 96, volunteered for the Navy in the years after World War II. He served as a petty officer leading a squad of sailors in the Pacific, with stops in Hawaii and Japan, then went home to farming, his family and his community. He still keeps photographs from those years and a star medallion he received for his leadership.

“It was just something I knew I should do,” said Thompson, a resident of the Lake Oswego community for two years. “It felt right, and then I came back.”

Bonaventure of Lacey: Army armorer, Seattle chef and Santa Claus
Bob Gates served three years in the Army and two and a half years in the National Guard. After basic training at Fort Carson, he watched fellow soldiers ship out to the Philippines and California while he was assigned to Fort Lewis as a private first class and company armorer. He went on to a long career as a chef, most of it at Seattle’s Andy’s Diner, the landmark built from vintage railroad cars, and he counts cooking dinner for John Wayne among his proudest moments.

For 23 years, Gates played Santa Claus. His best memory of the role, he said, is “bringing joy to all the kids.” Today he remains active in the American Legion and the Masonic lodge in Cinebar, sells popcorn each year to raise scholarship money for high school seniors, and in 2025 flew over Thurston County in a restored World War II-era open-cockpit biplane through the nonprofit Dream Flights.

Bonaventure of Salem is located at 3411 Boone Road SE in Salem; Bonaventure at Keizer Station at 5525 McLeod Lane NE in Keizer; Oswego Place by Bonaventure at 17450 Pilkington Road in Lake Oswego; and Bonaventure of Lacey at 4528 Intelco Loop SE in Lacey. Each offers retirement living, assisted living and memory care.

About Bonaventure Senior Living
Bonaventure Senior Living is a Pacific Northwest-founded, family-owned provider of retirement, assisted living, and memory care communities in Oregon and Washington. With a mission rooted in quality of life, Bonaventure creates personalized care plans tailored to each resident’s needs, interests, and goals. The company’s communities foster meaningful connections, independence, and well-being, empowering residents to thrive. For more information, visit www.bonaventuresenior.com.

Stacia Kirby
Kirby Communications
stacia@kirbycomm.com
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Written By: EIN Presswire