PENDLETON — About eight years ago, a proud military mom learned a new craft. Annette Frye, whose son, Air Force EOD Master Sgt. Ronnie “Bo” Brickey, asked her to create a quilt honoring his 20 fallen Explosive Ordnance Disposal comrades.

Despite the fact she hadn’t used her sewing machine in more than three decades, she took on the assignment. Calling herself a “military brat,” Frye has a special place in her heart for those who serve in the military.

“Over the past 20-plus years of my adult life, I have felt like I too am in the military,” she said. “It is a challenging lifestyle for the entire family.”

The finished product was up for bid during the 2015 EOD Wounded Warrior Foundation Auction. Since then, the Pendleton woman has spent a lot more time in front of her sewing machine. In 2018, she began working on a second specialty quilt for the 2019 EOD auction. And she recently finished up a third one, which will be auctioned off May 6 at the Emerald Coast Convention Center, Fort Walton Beach, Florida. While select items will be available for online bidding, Frye is uncertain if her quilt will be among those.

With each of the three quilts, Brickey, who retired from the military Dec. 1, 2021, after serving 22 years, has provided his mom with basic design guidance. The most recent one is based on a mural that fellow EOD Tech. Charles de Guia painted on the wall at Hurlburt Field, an Air Force installation in Okaloosa County, Florida. Gaining inspiration from Michelangelo’s “Creation of Adam,” the mural features an EOD technician with his robot.

“The mural is a representation of how important the robot is to us, much like how important we (Adam/humans) are to God,” Brickey said.

In addition to creating the quilts for the EOD, Frye has worked with others to send an endless number of care packages to the troops — everything from dried apples, homemade jerky and coffee to cookies, medications and Christmas cards. And when COVID hit, she rallied “her troops” and created more than 2,000 masks, which were shipped to soldiers across the globe.

In an article provided through the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service by Sgt. Andrew Winchell, Vietnam veteran Bill Dochnahl had high praises for Frye and her efforts. The Pendleton man called his friend a “modern-day Rosie the Riveter.”

Her first two quilts, Frye said, raised $2,000 for the EOD Foundation. Frye said the money goes to a scholarship fund for children of EOD technicians who paid the ultimate price.

The quilt is on display through the end of March at Mama Bear’s Quilt Shop, 170 S. Main St., Stanfield. For more about the EOD Wounded Warriors Foundation and the auction, search www.eodwarriorfoundation.org.