Veterans from VFW Post 6787 are grateful for the fundraising efforts of Pauline Cordua. From left: Ted Cordua, Marty Arnold, Pauline Cordua, James Clendening and Don Hyatt.  Sequim Gazette photo by Mark Couhig

Sequim Gazette staff

The 58 members of Carlsborg Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 6787 are very grateful for the hard work of Pauline Cordua — and so are a lot of other veterans.

As she has for umpteen years, Pauline, 98, this year baked and sold 100 fruit cakes on behalf of the VFW post. Because she and her husband, Ted, donate all of the ingredients, that means Pauline put more than $1,000 into the VFW post’s coffers.

Ted, who says he’s the “sales manager” for the effort, notes that’s just one of the many contributions Pauline makes each year to improve the lives of veterans across the peninsula. Every spring she supplies the baked goods for the post’s big yard sale. Post member Don Hyatt says her items are so popular “some people just show up for the pies.”

Every summer the Corduas prepare the beans and potato salad for those attending the big Veterans Day picnic in Port Angeles, feeding between 400 and 500 people. That takes 44 pounds of potato salad and 16 gallons of beans, Pauline said.

The funds raised by Pauline’s efforts go to the many charitable efforts that receive a helping hand from the Carlsborg post, including annual peninsula fishing trips for ailing veterans. The visiting vets learn to tie flies, then try them out in area waters. Project Healing Waters is conducted in concert with Olympic Peninsula Fly Fishers, another local organization.

Ted notes Pauline isn’t a latecomer to the idea of helping servicemen. In World War II, Pauline was one of America’s Rosie the Riveters — the women who worked in America’s factories manufacturing the armaments needed by the boys overseas. Pauline worked through the war in Benecia, Calif., building howitzers and their shells.