Northwest Framing | Northwest Framing Helps Create a Wall of Honor

Northwest Framing Helps Create a Wall of Honor

Sharing customer stories since 1974

By Jennifer Parsons

“I could sit and listen to the stories of these brave former military personnel all day,” Vicki Stanley, former teacher and resident of the Bellettini retirement community in Bellevue, Washington said. “I get chills each time I hear a story, and I can feel their pride.”

“Vicki and I did the research necessary to put together the Wall of Honor,” Jon Tucker, retired Air Force of 21 years and resident said. “I looked in newspapers, Legacy.com, and obituaries for their military information. Vicki did the interviews and biography writeups.”

Vicki and Jon had the idea of honoring new and former residents that served in different branches of the military. They first put together a book which contained the biographies of the Bellettini military residents along with a current photo and a former military photo of each person who served. They spearheaded the creation of the wall with a goal to have it completed by Veteran’s Day in 2024.

“We looked for a frame shop to frame our resident’s photos and plaques with the quality and customization we required to honor our 20 featured residents,” John Friedman, Bellettini Director of Wellness Programming said.

“This was a high touch project, and we wanted to work in person with a local frame shop, not a website. By working with knowledgeable staff at Museum Quality Framing in Bellevue instead of a random online site that doesn’t have MQF’s reputation, we received the customer service and expertise we needed and they showed the proper respect for the frame job.”

“We were so fortunate to have Oliver, one of the designers at Museum Quality Framing, and the store manager Jennifer managing our project. They were friendly, professional, and wanted the wall to be beautiful and worthy of the people we are honoring,” Friedman shared. “They went above and beyond with incredible patience and provided 100% accuracy on all deliverables.”

“Larson Juhl custom frames and a warm porcelain white mat were used for each of the pieces. We wanted to preserve the memories in the best way possible, so we chose TruVue® Conservation Clear glass, which offers 99% UV protection,” Oliver explained.

“The quality of Museum Quality Framing was five stars and unsurpassed,” Tucker said. “The wall is important to us. These retired military people were selfless, dedicated people. The most important and rewarding part of the Wall of Honor was learning about each residents’ history.”

“The humility in our residents telling their stories whether they were in combat or not was moving to learn about,” Friedman shared. “There is incredible unity when we celebrated the dedication of the wall. There was so much pride in the residents’ hearts. Jon and Vicki were such an incredible part of this and our activities assistant, Samantha Saddler offered up so much support in getting the wall accomplished. We’ll continue our wall as new people move in.”