..told by Bobbie Jo, Great-Granddaughter of Pearl & Stanley
..June 2024

When I was young, it seemed like my great-grandma’s quilts were everywhere. On my bed, in the snuggle blanket closet, on the wall. And pieces were in her bedroom on the sewing machine next to her bed at my grandma’s house. She died December 6, 1985. Yes, I remember the exact date. Every year, on that day, I still tell her that I miss her and I miss losing to her at Othello (I seriously don’t think I won even 1 time!!). That Christmas, I got a quilt from her. It was my favorite colors and matched my room; pinks and mauves. It was perfect. So beautiful. I was in awe. And I had no idea how to react to this. It was the most amazing present I could have ever hoped for. But she had just passed away. I’ve never felt so happy, and so sad, all at the same time. It’s been almost 40 years since that day, and I still have that quilt. I only have to picture it in my mind for all the feelings to come swarming to the forefront of my mind, and tears to come to my eyes. I felt like the most special person in the world for having received that quilt.

When I think of special quilts, there’s another one that comes to mind. I found it one day when I was in my late teens, in the snuggle blanket closet when I was getting ready to watch a movie. I don’t remember seeing it before that day. I asked my mom where it came from. She said it came from my great grandma. It wasn’t a pretty circle one with pie slices, or like the wedding ring one, or like the ones she made for my mom with flannel on one side and made out of 4″x4″ squares that got dragged everywhere with us. It was heavy. There were large rectangles, all in different drab colors. My mom told me that my great-grandma had made it ages ago. Back in the 40’s or 50’s when they didn’t have a lot of money, but lots of young boys outgrowing their clothes every 6 months. So she took those old pants, and made a quilt out of them. My grandma ended up with it, and now my mother had it. I made her promise me then and there that the quilt would be mine one day.

Several years later, enter my nephew, Bryce. He is in middle school and the biggest World War II buff I know. That’s not saying much since I don’t really know any, but his knowledge of World War II is impressive. Recently, as a middle school student, he was asked to go to a local high school as a guest speaker where he not only gave a presentation, but then opened up the class to any questions they wanted to ask. Even the teacher had a couple questions for him that Bryce knew the answers to.

He’s been in a WWII reenactment club since his age was in the single digits and he wasn’t even allowed to participate in any reenactments yet. One time he brought his WWII guns to a family Christmas party. Except he wasn’t allowed to have a gun, so he made them (about 10 or so) out of paper. They were made to be actual size, and at least one had a moving bolt action trigger.

So a few months ago when he decided to redo his bedroom with a 1940’s motif, no one was surprised. My mother came to me and we agreed that no one deserved this special quilt made out of old pants by his great-great-grandmother more than Bryce.

..told by Teresa, Granddaughter of Pearl & Stanley (& Bryce’s Grandmother)
..June 2024

I wrapped the quilt and took it over to give it to Bryce. However, at his young age, I wasn’t sure if he would understand the value of it, or even like it. So I told him that I had a present for him for his new room, but he had to make me a promise. This present was very special to me, and I was happy to give it to him, but only if he really wanted it and would take very good care of it. If he didn’t like it or didn’t understand why it had value to me, he could give it back to me and he wouldn’t be hurting my feelings even a little bit. I would gladly keep it. He said he understood and made me the promise. He opened it up and looked at me. So I told him what it was and where it came from. It was obvious to me that he understood it’s value. As he hugged the quilt with tears in his eyes, he said that he wanted it very, very much. I am happy knowing that he’ll take care of it and love it as much as I do.