Three Bagley Area Women Veterans Honored with Quilts of Valor

Karen Surdez grew up the only woman in a family of veterans, with a grandfather who served in the Army during World War II and uncles across the Navy, Army, and Air Force. At the Bagley American Legion Irvin Blix Post 16 Sunday, she became part of that tradition in a new way, receiving a Quilt of Valor alongside two fellow Bagley High School graduates during the post's monthly meeting and 107th birthday dinner.

Surdez, Kayci Styles, and Cindy Leija were each presented a handmade quilt by five Clearwater County members of the Headwaters Quilt Guild: Linda McPherson, Linda Gulbranson, Louise Walker, Gladys Lueken, and Bonnie Underdahl. The three women represent three separate decades of Bagley graduates and three different branches of the U.S. military.

Surdez, a lifelong Clearwater County resident and 1999 Bagley graduate, enlisted in the Marine Corps in August 2003. She served at Camp Pendleton in California before being posted to Camp Hansen in Okinawa, Japan. Honorably discharged in January 2008 as E4-Corporal, her service earned her the National Defense Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, Good Conduct Medal, Global War on Terrorism Medal, and Rifle Marksman Badge.

Styles, class of 1996, enlisted in the Air Force the same summer she graduated, less than a month after her 18th birthday. She reported to Whiteman Air Force Base in Knob Noster, Missouri, working in plumbing before shifting to fire suppression within the Civil Engineering Squadron. In June 2007, she deployed to Prince Sultan Air Force Base in Saudi Arabia with a 21-person Civil Engineering Team in support of Operation Southern Watch. Her decorations include the Outstanding Unit Award and Expert Marksmanship Ribbon.

Leija, who moved to Bagley in 1978 and graduated in 1989, enlisted in the U.S. Navy in January 1991 following the announcement of Operation Desert Storm. She served at Naval Support Activity Mid-South in Millington, Tennessee, met her husband Louis while in service, and later spent time stationed in Norfolk, Virginia. Honorably discharged in 1993 as an E-1, she received the National Defense Service Ribbon. Her son Antonio has carried the family's service forward, completing two tours of duty in Afghanistan as a U.S. Army medic.

The Quilts of Valor Foundation was founded in 2003 by Catherine Roberts, a Blue Star mother whose son Nat was deployed in Iraq. Since the first quilt was presented in November 2003 to Minnesota soldier Charles Musselman, a Vietnam veteran, the foundation has awarded 419,694 quilts nationally through the end of July 2025. The Headwaters Quilt Guild has presented quilts at the Bagley American Legion, the Clearwater County Fair, and through home visits, building a local legacy that Sunday added three more names to.