By Judy Christie

1st Lt. John Glenn, USMC (Ret), 76, was buying lumber at a large hardware store in Missouri earlier this year and asked the cashier about a military discount. During the transaction, the checker thanked him for his service and mentioned that her husband had been a veteran, operating burn pits in Bahrain. He had died of lung cancer 20 years earlier, leaving her with two young sons.

Glenn, surviving spouse liaison for MOAA’s Missouri Council of Chapters and an active member of the Greater St. Louis Chapter, went into his default mode: service to veterans and their families. Married for 51 years to his wife, Bettye, he became interested in helping surviving spouses after the death of a chapter member whose wife “had no clue” about what to do next.

“Have you been drawing all your benefits?” he asked the hardware clerk.

“No, I haven’t gotten anything,” she replied.

In the days that followed, Glenn assisted her with paperwork and — after she ran into delays — got in touch with a high-ranking officer at the VA. “You’re going to have some good news for her,” the officer told him.

At age 70, after 20 years of widowhood and 15 years as a cashier at the store, the woman has received back payments and her first monthly check, a financial settlement that will, she told him, “change her life.”

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“That’s the kind of work we do,” Glenn said matter-of-factly. “We’re trying to identify spouses who have entitlement. … We have these spouses, male or female, who are out there.”

For his many outstanding contributions, he has received the 2023 Surviving Spouse Liaison Excellence Award at the council level. His efforts — which he is quick to say are done with the help of other MOAA members — include working for the elimination of the “widows tax” and helping to organize a "Military Retiree, Veteran, Spouse and Surviving Spouse Educational Seminar” attended by 120 people, a blueprint for other chapters.

“His experience and knowledge of community service organizations have been invaluable,” said Lt. Col. William D. Wolfinger, USA (Ret), president of Missouri Council of Chapters. “In his military service, he had been involved in personnel management and thus really understands the problems and issues that the military personnel and their families experience.”

[RELATED: Surviving Spouse Corner: Know Your Benefits]

Glenn was raised in public housing in St. Louis and “just wanted to be a Marine,” he said. He served 21 years, including a combat tour in Vietnam, the Easter Offensive of 1972. While there, he was in the former squadron of his famous namesake, astronaut Col. John Glenn, USMC (Ret), a tidbit noted in the Command Chronology.

After military retirement, he spent 23 years with the United Way of Greater St. Louis on a team that raised nearly $1.5 billion, and he has been inducted into the Missouri Veterans Hall of Fame. Among recent passions is the new Guardian Hills Veterans Healing Center, which will help with physical, emotional, and relational injuries for veterans. “It’s awesome. It’s going to make a difference,” he said.

This summer, he and his wife traveled to Europe to visit their children and grandchildren and catch some of the Olympics in Paris. But he said he’s already preparing for more volunteer efforts upon their return. “I have a lot of things lined up for when I get back.”

Judy Christie is a writer based in Colorado.