Ginger Gilbert Ravella met her husband Troy when they were teenagers, well before he became a fighter pilot and American hero. After marrying, they moved their growing family 11 times with the Air Force. Life was busy, but Gilbert Ravella loved the chaos.
Everything changed in 2006, three months into Troy’s four-and-a-half-month deployment to Iraq. His plane went down in a combat mission while he was defending a unit on the ground that was being overwhelmed by insurgents. He perished while saving 22 special operators and more than 40 cavalrymen who were less than 2 miles away.
It took 10 years for the same Delta Force unit Troy protected to recover his body from the Iraqi insurgents who took it from the crash site.
“Our story ended shorter than I ever could have imagined,” says Gilbert Ravella, who became a widow at age 36 with five children under the age of 8. Now, she’s part of the one and a half million dependents from Iraq and Afghanistan who represent the mission of Folds of Honor—a charitable organization Major Dan Rooney established 12 years ago to provide educational scholarships to the spouses and children of America’s fallen and disabled service members.
In May, Gilbert Ravella spoke about her passion for supporting military families at a reception held at Columbia Country Club in Chevy Chase, Maryland, for Associated Builders and Contractors’ golf tournament benefiting Folds of Honor. Since 2017, ABC’s tournament has raised 5,000 for the organization.
Rodney “Rocky” Sickmann, a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and recipient of the Prisoner of War Medal, also shared his account as one of 65 hostages at the American Embassy in Tehran, Iran, in 1979. He was just 22 years old, and he remained a hostage for 444 days before being released on Jan. 20, 1981. During one rescue attempt in 1980, eight service members lost their lives.
“Every day since I came home, I’ve never forgotten those eight individuals and what they did,” Sickmann said.
Following his release, Sickmann was honorably discharged and went to work for Anheuser-Busch InBev for 34 years—eventually serving as the company’s U.S. National Director for Military and Industry Affairs, where he got involved with Folds of Honor. He retired in 2016, but remains committed to helping the organization fill the financial gap of dependents adversely affected by war.
“You’re not going to get to meet all the families that ABC is helping, but I hope that you remember me when you’re giving to Folds of Honor,” Gilbert Ravella says. “The 1% who serves the other 99% is incredible. And you know what, their families are even more incredible.”
Partners supporting the tournament included Big D Metalworks, FlorWright, Forbes Tate Partners, Gaylor Electric, hth companies, inc., KBE Building Corp., Marriott and Residence Inn, Miller & Long Concrete Construction, Prospect Waterproofing Co., Reliable Contracting Co. Inc., Tradesmen International, and Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America.
“I didn’t serve, so this is how I’m serving,” said FlorWright President Andy Wright, whose parents lived next door to Major Rooney when he was in the Air National Guard in Oklahoma. “I’ve been lucky enough and successful enough that I can afford to support several Folds of Honor scholarships a year. Each of the 12 foursomes playing golf in this tournament provided four scholarships from each team; it’s just awesome.”
Additionally, FlorWright is donating flooring for the new 25,000-square-foot Folds of Honor headquarters being built in Oklahoma. The organization outgrew its original building and broke ground on the new space in June with the support of many local contractors and suppliers.
Folds of Honor is building a new 25,000-square-foot headquarters in Oklahoma.
Photo credit: GH2 Architects
