WEST BEND — Veterans Day honors the American troops that have served our country, but even after their military career, some of them are still serving their community.
"Before I was a teacher I was raising my children, and before that I was in the coast guard," Katherine Schenk, a five-year veteran of the Coast Guard, said.
On Monday, after serving her family, the youth, and her country, she is once again serving but this time in her own shop: Café Floriana.
"Floriana is the name of a city in Malta where the American embassy was located where he worked," Schenk said.
That 'he' is her late husband who served 22 years in the Coast Guard. Opening a café was something the two talked about often.
"We had talked about when we were married coffee book shop," she said.
In March, that dream finally came true.
It hasn't been easy, but she says it is all worth it. While this
While Cafe Floriana is a veteran owned business that’s not how Schenk see’s it.
"I'm a business owner who happens to have served in the coast guard.”
That’s the point for Schenk, because you never know when you may meet a veteran.
"I think there are veterans all around us that we might not even know served.”
Schenk started a family and then became a teacher after that.
"(I) taught middle school math and science in Washington state and overseas for a little while.”
Now, she is serving up her and her husbands dram.
"We had talked about when we were married coffee book shop."
Because our veterans come in all types of uniforms - some military style and some come with an apron and a pastry.
