 |
| Frieda Dyer shows off the quilt her daughter, Conway High School Assistant Principal Melinda Wright, made for Frieda and her husband Sam's 50th wedding anniversary in 1999. The quilt was displayed during a quilt show put on by College Square Retirement Community Friday. |
College Square Retirement Community held a quilt show for its residents on Friday.
Director of Activities Keven Stowe said he always tries to plan unique and fun activities for the residents that everybody will enjoy.
“This [was] a hobby that by and large, they’re all interested in,” he said.
The idea came when Darryl Ennis, the maintenance director at the retirement home, noticed that a good majority of the residents had quilts in their apartments. Ennis, who does work inside the living areas, wanted to find a way to show off the blankets.
“These ladies have quilted for years and years,” he said.
The show started off relatively small, Stowe said, but come Friday, his office desk was covered in quilts, bringing the number to nearly 40 that were displayed.
He said all the quilts had some sort of historical and significant value to each of the residents and being able to put them out there for everyone to see was really cool.
A set of those quilts belonged to Shirley Brown, whose mother hand stitched each quilt by hand, despite suffering from Parkinson’s Disease, an illness that causes possible symptoms of tremors, stiffness, fatigue, amnesia or confusion and loss of balance.
The hard work and love that Brown’s mother, Willie B. Crye Edwards, put into making the blankets is what she treasures the most.
“She would’ve been very honored to know I put them [here on display],” she said.
Brown added that her mother must have made over 30 quilts for her and the family, but sold a lot as well. She said she was so proud of her mother’s work and even though she had a difficult time due to the illness, her mother did the best she could.
“[It] just makes my heart feel happy that maybe she knows that I was so proud,” she said.
Frieda Dyer, another resident, said the quilt she displayed was a gift from her daughter, Conway High School Assistant Principal Melinda Wright, for her and her husband Sam’s 50th wedding anniversary in June of 1999.
“It’s phenomenal,” she said. “Definitely a treasure. I think [it] is great.”
The 50th anniversary quilt has photos of Dyer’s children and grandchildren, one of her and Sam on their wedding day in 1949 and other precious mementos from over the years.
“It shows all the people I love the most,” she said.
Another keepsake that Dyer displayed was a quilt that her grandmother made in the 1930s. She said while her grandmother hand stitched it, her grandfather helped by sitting next to her and holding the pieces together as she sewed.
Melvin Bailey, a veteran who served in the U.S. Army, showed off his “Quilt of Valor” during the show.
The quilt, made with material representing the Flag of the United States and other patriotic fabric pieces, was presented to him in 2015 by a group of ladies for his service in the Korean War during a Lions Club meeting.
“It was a total surprise to me,” he said. “I was so shocked I didn’t know what to make of it.”
He said he arrived at the meeting and saw his son and two grandsons there, which confused him.
“I didn’t know what they were doing there,” he said. “I didn’t even know they were coming.”
He said while he didn’t know the ladies that made it and wasn’t even sure how they got the information to put on it.
“It was a total shock to me, but I certainly treasure it,” Bailey said.
Due to the positivity of the event, Stowe said this is something they are going to consider doing again next year.
“They were really excited,” he said. “It turned out really well.”
(Staff writer Hilary Andrews can be reached by email at hilary.andrews@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1215.)
http://thecabin.net/news/2016-10-15/history-displayed-college-square-quilt-show#.WAP4VKPMxMM
No comments:
Post a Comment