Chances are thatTracy Greene, Magalis Filson and Dick Frantz are not well known within the Bennington Community. However, they along with 217 of their colleagues, are not only well known to the 160 residents of the Vermont Veterans Home, they are indispensable.

On November 11, Americans will pause to celebrate the contribution made by its military veterans. Locally, at the Veterans Home, the 197 full-time and 23 part-time staff members celebrate the military contributions of their charges, 24 hours a day, seven days a week -- year in and year out -- the way it has been ever since the home was opened, on April 1, 1887.

It was 122 years ago that Colonel Coffey and his wife welcomed the first of 25 residents (they were referred to as inmates) to the Manor House, at the then-named Soldiers Home. The residents had to have come from Vermont, have served in the Civil War and not be receiving a pension greater than $12 a month.

The property the Veterans Home is on is steeped in local history. Nineteenth century Bennington entrepreneurs Seth Hunt and Trenor W. Park had in one way or another been involved with the property, but not the establishment of the home for veterans.

The untimely death of Mr. Park, in the early 1880s, kept the home from becoming the Trenor W. Park Home for Destitute Children and Women. Instead, after almost five years of debating where a home and hospital for Civil War veterans should be located, the 200-plus acre Park Farm and Manor

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House won out. The decision was made on Nov. 3, 1886, to not locate a veterans home in Barre, Norwich, Randolph or St. Johnsbury.

Colleen Rundell, the current Veterans Home administrator, presides over an institution that has witnessed many program and physical changes in the last century and a quarter. Colleen is the home's 20th director and only the second not to hold any military officer rating.

The Veterans Home acreage has been greatly reduced -- from the hundreds down to 87. Since 1965, lands have been donated or leased to Vermont for the state office complex, the Bennington Chamber of Commerce and Mount Anthony Union High School.

What has not changed is the Veterans Home mission to care for veterans -- with priority given to Vermont veterans, Gold Star parents and spouses and veterans from other states, if beds are available.

The Veterans Home once operated as a dairy farm, where physically eligible residents were required to spend time, is no longer functioning. However, the Veterans Home does maintain a cemetery, and today it is the final resting place for 360 veterans.

Ms. Rundell is not presiding over the construction of any new buildings. She and her staff are overseeing a multi-million dollar geo-thermal installation that has two of its three phases in operation. When completed, the Veterans Home will be close to being able to heat and cool all of its buildings. It turns out that the former Trenor Park Farm is located over an aquifer.

From a governance standpoint, the Veterans Home is a unique creature. It is a non-profit, governed by a board of 18, all are retired military and appointed by the governor. The Veterans Home is almost entirely self-sufficient financially and receives very little in federal or state funding. Private donations are given and because of the sensitivity of its mission, it has very few volunteers -- although this might soon change.

One such volunteer for over 30 years is Art Cherron, a Bennington resident and Korean War Marine veteran, who without fail shows movies to his fellow veterans every Wednesday evening.

The care that Greene, Filson and Frantz and their colleagues give to the veterans is second to none. For 22 months, up until Aug. 26 of this year, I personally saw the excellent care that the Veterans Home staff gave to my late brother, a Navy veteran.

All one needs to do is to take a walk through the facility's resident wings, the physical therapy unit, the dining room, and especially the Alzheimer's and dementia unit, and you will witness the first class care that is being provided.

As we approach Veterans Day, it is comforting to know that here in Bennington we have a facility and a staff that gives thanks to our veterans, each and every day.

Don Keelan lives in Arlington.