(nostalgic music) - Hi, I am Jim Peck, welcome to I Remember.

Joining me tonight is Patricia Lynch.

In 2003, she co-founded the West Side Soldiers' Aid Society.

It was a rebirth of the Milwaukee Women's Organization formed during the Civil War to provide care for veterans.

In the 1860s, their fundraising efforts helped support the establishment of a national soldier's home.

Now, Lynch shares the legacy of that historic landmark in her book, "Milwaukee's Soldier's Home".

How did you get involved in all this?

- Oh, I grew up with my grandfather at the Holyoke Soldiers' Home in Massachusetts.

So, I was always kind of intrigued by this notion of soldiers' homes.

And when I came to school at Marquette I had my soon-to-be husband drive me around the grounds and I was just entranced by it.

And it was also one of the few places that I could find Memorial Day celebrations similar to the ones I remembered from New England.

Where it really is the focus of the community for that day.

(dramatic music) - My name is Terry Arliskas and I'm here with Debra Keinert to talk about the resurrected West Side Soldiers' Aid Society.

The society was reformed in 2003 by Patricia Lynch who lived in Greenfield, Wisconsin.

- And I, Debra Keinert, had worked in the Civil War reenactments as a Civil War nurse and I worked in close conjunction with the West Side Soldiers' Aid Society.

And then, with the resurrection of the West Side Soldiers' Aid Society we had modern day heroes like Patricia Lynch who went beyond anybody's ideals and resurrected something that nobody really thought would be successful.

- She was the heart and soul of that organization and she gave it everything she had.

I also have to thank Laura Ranaldi who was there with Patricia.

The two of them worked very hard to get the National Historic Site designation.

They traveled to Washington to listen to Senate hearings and give testimony and really the Soldiers' Home District as you see today would not exist in its state without Patricia Lynch.

She was the kingpin that got that movement started to restore those historic buildings.

- Her love of history, and finding Laura Ranaldi, who was affiliated with the VA here in Milwaukee.

They were able to move forward with a modern-day version and carried on that legacy by continuing to honor current veterans, sending them care packages and remembering their loved ones here at home.

- And to Jill Zonn, librarian at the hospital at Woods.

She was another one that was always ready and willing to help and very much involved in planning the Reclaiming Our Heritage.

Big event that we had every year.

- I wanted to take a moment to remember some women who were way before their time in their achievements and these women would include Lydia Hewitt, they would include Fannie Buttrick, and they would include Hannah Vedder.

There were many others, of course, but for women to be able to organize something as grand as a soldier's home in the 1860s was really unheard of.

During this period of history, women were still considered to be a possession.

They had no right to vote.

They couldn't own their own money.

Everything was under their husband's name.

For them, to overcome all of those obstacles and make so many wonderful contributions for our veterans is absolutely outstanding.

- [Narrator] In our final episode of the Women Founders Milwaukee Soldiers' Home hear from the producers about what it was like to honor these women and their plans for a full-length documentary on this historic landmark.

(dramatic music)