By CHRIS CHANCELLOR

Her name has become synonymous with helping people through the complexities of obtaining benefits through Veterans Affairs.
But even Lynn Currie Shoup, a Kitsap County mortgage specialist, acknowledges she did not always understand the value of military service. That changed during the late 1990s when her boyfriend at the time, who served in the mariners, was visiting his active-duty father with her at Fort Lewis.
At one point, Currie Shoup asked her boyfriend about the significance of serving. He told her that if she traveled to another continent and was taken hostage or injured, the Marines would risk their own wellbeing to travel without fanfare to locate her and return her home.
“Why don’t we do more for you?” Currie Shoup asked her boyfriend.
“Exactly,” he responded.
That — and not, as many assume, because of the 38,000 veterans living, working, raising families or enjoying retirement in Kitsap County — was the impetus behind Currie Shoup’s decision to become involved with assisting veterans.
Her passion for veterans resonated through a picture of the Vietnam Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C. that hung over her desk for years. She since has donated it to a veteran who works at Worksource.
Currie Shoup’s giving does not end there. She has worked in real estate for more than 25 years and specializes in buying and selling homes using VA financing with no money down or closing costs.
But her work with veterans does not end there. Currie Shoup, 57, wants to make sure veterans obtain the services they are entitled. She has helped more than 156 veterans with disability benefits obtain assistance. Sometimes, she said, forms were filled out incorrect, or veterans believed their circumstances were not difficult enough to merit benefits.
“There’s a lot of veterans out there that are entitled to benefits that think it’s a handout,” said Currie Shoup, adding that she has helped more than 156 veterans with their disability benefits. “You earned it. Let’s go ahead and get you what you’re entitled to.”
She has lived and worked in both Bremerton and Port Orchard, and is knowledgable enough about the county to point veterans to where the state and federal VA clinics are located, along with hospitals.
“I’m humbled when they call and ask for help,” Currie Shoup said. “If I can’t do what they need me to do, I will get them to somebody who can. I have not been able to anything that fills my soul like taking care of veterans.”
Currie Shoup, who also takes the time to explain obscure benefits, such as honorably discharged veterans are entitled to a signed certificate from the president when they die, does it all at no charge.
She said others were not aware that 24 months of active-duty service qualifies them for the status as a veteran.
“I think we owe them,” she said. “To me veterans are the Eighth Wonder of the World.”
In recent years, Currie Shoup also has donated 10 percent of her income for K-9 Officers. She said it covers her two passions — vets and pets. Those funds help cover expenses for retiring K-9s for policemen and active military.
She said she is honored to help veterans.
“I’ve traveled the world because of veterans,” Courie Shoup said. “I don’t think it gets any better. I get up every day and I live in a free country.
“I choose what I want to drive, what I wear and what career I want. I don’t have the government telling me what I can and can’t do. I’m thankful for that.”
It all comes back to a simple motto Currie Shoup says she lives by: “Have you thanked a veteran today?”