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| Quilt display links past to current generation |
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Posted: Monday, July 16, 2012 9:02 pm
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Union City Middle School student Jaysen Alfter (left) and his brother, Kevin Alfter, viewed the “Rags to Riches” quilt display recently at the Obion County Public Library
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By KATIE DONALDSON
Messenger Intern
“It’s not a young person’s story.”
Those are the words of Melba (Whitesides) Rabinowitz, daughter of the late DeLois King Whitesides, referring to the two quilts centering as the focus for the “Rags to Riches” quilt show that opened recently at the Obion County Public Library.
The two friendship quilts span a period of 50 years and have already started reproducing memories for some visitors.
A man looking at the quilts remembered his mother teaching him how to quilt, Ms. Rabinowitz said about the opening.
Despite the dwindling number of young people who quilt, Ms. Rabinowitz hopes to show how quilting can connect the current generation with the old. The two display quilts also show links between different Obion County families.
One quilt, made around 1937, is from the estate of the late Mary Gore of Troy. The other quilt, sewn around 1987, is from the Whitesides’ family. Ms. Whitesides was Ms. Gore’s sister-in-law. Both women were long-time residents of the Troy community.
The show was developed by Ms. Rabinowitz to give tribute to these women and the others who helped piece together the quilts.
They used every scrap and resource they had to make their homes beautiful and their families comfortable, Ms. Rabinowitz said.
“Recycling wasn’t a word for them,” she added about their resourcefulness.
The women began producing the first quilt during the Great Depression. They used whatever they could find to make it, and the ‘rags’ part of the show’s title highlights that.
“The ‘riches’ is the work value and ethics we got from our parents,” Ms. Rabinowitz said about the show’s name.
She said the show is only the first phase of the project she envisions.
The first quilt, entitled “My Mother’s Friendship Quilt,” has 26 Friendship blocks, in addition to the names of Mary Gore, DeLois Whitesides and Opal Fitzgerald, who are on both quilts.
Through displaying the quilt at the library, she hopes to learn more about the women named on the friendship quilt. She aims to develop a booklet with a short profile of each woman and the contact information of their living relatives. The quilt and profile guides, once complete, will be available for future community events.
The names of the friendship quilt, developed between 1987 and 1992, in alphabetical order are: Lurlene Adams, Onaida Bryn, Ruth Buchanan, Sharon Cranford, Cap Darnell, Lillian Davis, Rhonda Dyer, Opal Fitzgerald, Delores Fitzpatrick, Mary Gore, Jean Gray, Maxine Hawks, Katy Hooper, Elizabeth Johnson, Margie Kendall, Zora Kendall, Aline Marshall, Woodyn Muse, Betty Neeley, Joy Reeves, Arlene Roberts, Sarah Shires, Becky Skinner, Marie Sleath, Earline Sticklin, Beula H. Ursery, Ramona Wade, DeLois Whitesides and Estelle Williams.
The quilt show opening coincided with the King Family Reunion, which is held every two years to bring together the extended family of John and Ruth King, parents of DeLois King Whitesides. Most of her children and grandchildren will visit the show.
Ms. Whitesides, known for her leadership in various community clubs and the Troy Methodist Church, worked at the Trimble Jacket Factory for many years. She died in the fall of 2005.
Ms. Gore, who taught school at the former Troy Elementary School for more than 60 years, died in March 2006, a few days before her 99th birthday.
The late Opal Fitzgerald has a friendship block on both quilts. She and her late husband, Sydney, were life-long friends of DeLois and Frank J. Whitesides, who farmed adjacent to them on the Troy-Rives Road.
The quilt show will be available for the remainder of July.
Ms. Rabinowitz asks anyone who has information about or is related to the women listed above to contact her. You may also leave your name and information at the library in a contact book beside the display.
“I will write them back,” she said of her request. “I promise that.”
She is a graduate of the former Troy High School. She holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Tennessee at Martin and earned a master of science degree at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. She lives with her family in Newfoundland, Canada.
She may be contacted at melba@nl.rogers.com. Jesse Whitesides may be contacted at 536-6717 for any information.
Editor’s note: Katie Donaldson, daughter of Jim and Cindy Donaldson of Union City, is a rising senior at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
Published in The Messenger 7.16.12 |
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