Quilt Stories

By Rita Dixon 

A 79-year-old father with bladder cancer who has an 8-year-old son; a 17-year-old teenage girl with a brain tumor; a young man who loved to surf but has cancer; a little boy with M.S. who trails a quilt behind him every time he goes to the hospital; a tiny child who has eye cancer, wrapped in a quilt, who is too young to know what’s happening; and a young Muslim boy, fighting for his life with stage 4 cancer. What do these people have in common? They have received a quilt from the Quilter’s Prayer group.

The 79-year-old dad died of bladder cancer and his son took the quilt and earnestly told his mom, “This is mine, because it was my daddy’s.” The girl with the brain tumor took her quilt with her to the hospital, on car rides, and everywhere she went. After she died, her mom took the quilt and treasures it as a memento of her daughter. The surfer found himself in a time of remission. He went surfing again, but eventually the disease took him. The quilt, with surfing motifs, covered him at all times until he died. An 8-year-old girl loved her quilt and took it with her wherever she went. When she died, her parents had her buried in the quilt.

There are also stories of people who survived illness and surgeries, who now have the quilt hanging over a chair at home, waiting to be covered again during cool weather. It is a symbol of what they have overcome with God at their sides.

As Mr. Frank Coffman said, “I was taking my new round of chemo today, snuggling under the prayer quilt you made for me the last time I had chemotherapy. It was such a blessing and telling the nurses about it makes for a lovely witness. Thank you so much again for the quilt and your prayers during this time.”

Our reward is knowing that our quilts have meaning to those who receive them and that they provide a witness of God’s love to others. We think that when someone is covered with a quilt, they are also covered with God’s love. The Quilter’s Prayer group has given quilts to 167 people in the last three years. This means that there are 167 stories, each of them unique, each with a different ending, yet each with the same theme of God’s love.

This group of dedicated ladies meets every Thursday evening at LBF. For information about joining the group to make quilts, call Rita Dixon @ (909) 931-9322. If you know someone who needs a quilt, please note it on your K.I.T. card during any weekend service and place it in one of the offering boxes in the back of the church.