Memorial - Edmond Quilt Guild

~Charlene Brewer ~ Charter Member, Charlene Brewer, recently passed away (January 2023) after a short illness. She had been in poor health for quite some time. Besides being a member of EQG, she was also a member of the PM Quilters, COQG and the Alpha Group. Charlene was nationally known for her collection of feedsack fabrics and was published in a Fabulous Feedsack Quilts. She was very generous and donated some of her feedsacks to EQG's artisan market at the quilt show in 2018. We made good money from her donation and were grateful. For many years, she was a "Girl Friday" for a local engineer and because the boss was involved in horseracing, she became interested in the races and horses. She made some beautiful quilts because of that involvement with those beautiful animals. Charlene had a unique personality. Either she liked you or she didn't! I feel lucky that she liked me, Alice Kellogg.

~Barbara Jo Kendall ~ Long-time member, Barbara Kendall, died March 5th, 2022. She always had a smile on her face and was ready to help with the quilt show, no job was too small. She was a Santa fanatic and had a house full of Santa's every Christmas, from ornaments to dolls. She loved them all. Of course, she loved quilting and made some beautiful quilts, but she also loved sail boats, piano and teaching. She lived a full and beautiful life. You will be missed, Barbara. A note from Facebook about her Grandmother: Yesterday was a sad day in our family. My bestfriend and grandma passed away yesterday morning unexpectedly. To say our family is heart broken is an understatement. Babu was the one you went to for advise in any situation, the one who would hold you for hours, and the glue that held our family together. It all started in 2015, when she was diagnosed with Ovarian cancer. Doctors told us we had a couple months left with her, flash forward almost 7 years later and babu was still fighting. Babu was the perfect example of keeping your faith during the toughest battles, she never doubted God's plan for her. She was the strongest woman I know and I was so blessed to get 23 years with my bestfriend. I have no doubt babu was greeted by Jesus with his arms wide open saying "well done my good and faithful servant". Heaven gained the strongest angel it will ever see! My babu passed away yesterday after her seven year battle with ovarian cancer. Babu was the strongest person I know! She lived every day to the fullest and no matter what she put her kids and grandkids before herself! She truly handled life with grit and grace! To say we are heartbroken is an understatement. We are working to find a new normal, but find peace in knowing that she is with our lord and savior and with my Lolly watching over us!

~Genie Marie Stafford Ford ~ Genie passed away January 11, 2022 in Edmond, Oklahoma. She was born in Ardmore, Oklahoma on May 23, 1955 to Harold Glen Stafford (d. 10/06/2010) and Roy Gene Mahan (d. 10/03/1962). She is survived by her husband, Steele Ford, and her son, Alexander Ford. Genie got her bachelors of science in nursing in December of 1992 from the University of Southwestern Louisiana. She was an honors program alumni. Genie started out taking care of adults, but it wasn’t long before the Lord called her to take care of children. She got her Masters of Science in Nursing from the University of Phoenix Online in 2005 in order to be a clinical instructor. For the rest of her career she taught hands-on clinical nursing to the students in her care. In 2013, Genie attended the Foundations of Faith Community Nursing course in Oklahoma City University to become a faith community nurse. Genie was a member of many local quilting guilds: Oklahoma Quilting Guild, Edmond Quilting Guild, the Crazy Quilters, and many others. Wherever she went, it wasn’t long before she was in leadership. She would come home and say, “Well, I’m on the board now and I don’t know how that happened.” She could be in any organization and rise to the top just by her suggestions, organizational skills, people skills, and that smile. The most important thing to Genie was her spiritual life. Raised Southern Baptist, she attended church regularly and read her Bible many times over. She led her husband to Christ. From the beginning they went to many different protestant churches. They were involved in the charismatic movement. While overseas with the US Navy, they attended a missionary Baptist Church and went to the only non-denominational Cursillo in the world in the Republic of Panama. She was also excited because it was held at the Baptist Encampment on the Pacific side of Panama, which was supported by the annual Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions. She finally saw where some of the Lottie Moon money went that she’d been giving to the Baptist Church all her life. It was a great experience where they saw spontaneous healing. Back in the states, they were involved in the charismatic movement until moving to Oklahoma City and back to the Baptist Church, but something was missing. Then it happened. While she was not feeling well for a couple of weeks, she watched EWTN every day and that led her to the Catholic Church. She told her husband about it. They did research and converted. She became immersed as usual and was working her way through several classes. Her love for Jesus was only increased by the presence of Mary and Joseph. Becoming Catholic was her spiritual freedom and a pathway to express God's love.

~Linda Elain Olsen~ Linda was born on December 3, 1946, in Hominy, Oklahoma to Harold and Edith Montgomery. She passed away peacefully on June 21, 2021, at her home in Oklahoma City with her son and sister, Mary, at her side. She was preceded in death by her parents and husband, Guy Olsen. She is survved by her son Brett of Oklahoma City, sister, Mary Pestel, of Tulsa, OK and sister, Sue Ann Lingley of Juneau, Alaska, brother, John Montgomery of Bartlesville, OK, her beloved stepmother Earnestine Montgomery of Barnsdall, OK, grandson Miguel Olsen of Colorado Springs, CO, the entire Heath family clan of Oklahoma City. many nephews, neices, extended family, a mulltitude of friends, quilting buddies, co-workers and associates. and her beloved four legged companion, Marley, of the home. She was active in the Edmond Quilt Guild, where she was the hospitality representative for several years, the Mavens Quilting Group, and a member of Quilting Friends, where they kept the wine industry very very busy. They made countless quilts and other items for Boys Ranch, Loving Touch ministry, and special quilts for so many people. She left behind hundreds or thousands of pieces of material for projects she envisioned from shops all around just so she would not run out of things to work on. She lived well loved much laughed often. She will be missed by all, but asked that you do not mourn greatly for she is content and at peace. (She had three rules about today…keep it simple, simple, and simple.)

~Dr. Janet Hubly Noeve~ Janet passed away peacefully on February 20, 2020, at the age of 82 following a stroke. After three decades of teaching, she retired as an American history professor at Rose State College in Midwest City, Oklahoma. where she also served as a departmental chair and college dean for several years. Her courses in American and Women’s History, which she pioneered in Oklahoma, touched the lives of thousands of students. In retirement, she followed her three great passions: family genealogy, doll collecting and quilting. In retirement, Janet focused on quilting. She made multiple quilts for her family members, often themed around important events in their lives. Through the Edmond Quilt Guild and as independent projects, she also made several hundred donation quilts for the elderly, wheelchair-bound, children and babies in foster care. Through a grant from the Central Oklahoma Quilters’ Guild, Dr. Noever combined her love of history with her love of quilting when she studied Seminole Patchwork. The Seminole Indians’ patchwork technique was one of the factors leading to quick quilt making and the growing popularity of quilting in the late twentieth-century. She gave several public talks outlining what she had discovered from her latest research. She was active in multiple Oklahoma quilting guilds and the community offered a generous circle of new friends when she moved to Huntsville, AL. In a note left for her children, she expressed what quilting meant to her. “Remember that I loved the process. It was the planning of the quilt, the fabric shopping, the looking for patterns, the possibilities of it all, the sewing of it, the nice women and friendships that developed, the trips I took centered around the quilt world. All of this that I enjoyed. The whole quilt world creativity itself that I so enjoyed.” Her fabric stash was one of her life’s great treasures. She wrote in an email to her daughter, “Don’t bemoan my excesses. Just know the joy it brought me in my ‘later years’. It is hard to imagine my life without quilting.” The day before her death, the syndicated television program “The Quilt Show” celebrated her stunning blue and white quilt called “Halo Medallion” shown here. Janet remarked that the quilt’s intricate pattern tested all the skills she had learned over a lifetime of sewing.

~Alice Finney-Denny~ Alice was an avid quilter and charter member of EQG. She died February 22, 2019, after a year-long battle with cancer. She always had a positive, generous attitude and was so much fun to be around. She will be sorely missed in the quilting community and by her friends and family.

~Cameron Potter~ Cameron, Charter Member, and award-winning long-arm quilter, Cameron Potter died September 30, 2019. Cameron was an excellent quilt maker, but she was also a folk dancer, Latin teacher, and generous to a fault. But there's more. A few years ago when the guild was in its infancy, we wanted to have a quilt show but were in need of seed money. The board had decided to put off the show until we could accumulate the money needed for down payments on a venue, etc. All of a sudden an anonymous donor came forward with enough money to pay for the entire venue. It has been held a secret until her death that it was Cameron and Greg Potter that saved the day!

~Mary Lou Benton~ Mary Lou, Charter Member, and accomplished art quilter, Marilu Benton, died October 6, 2019. She was a pretty lady and fun to be around. She had been fighting cancer for many years and had been doing well with her treatments, but the cancer came back with a vengeance and spread quickly.

~Lucille "Lucy" M. (Willis) McAnelly~ Lucy passed away on September 30, 2018, at the age of 84 in Edmond, OK from complications of multiple myeloma. Lucy was a talented seamstress and quilter. She was active in various quilt groups.

~Dottie Alexander Doughty~ After her birth in Pennsylvania, Dottie Alexander was brought to Oklahoma right after World War II in 1946 by her new husband, Ralph Doughty. She was active in churches and schools most of her life; St. Peter and Paul's in Cushing, St. Patrick's in Oklahoma City, St. Charles in Oklahoma City, and St. Monica's in Edmond. She was involved with building St. Patrick's Church and instrumental in the Pre-Cana Program for engaged couples. Through her life she had many passions and was quite the "party girl" in her younger years, participating in amateur talent shows at Kerr-McGee. Dottie had a very active leadership role in the Central Oklahoma Quilt Guild, was a charter member of the Oklahoma State Quilting Organization, and an active member of the Edmond Quilt Guild. Dottie passed away peacefully at her home on November 28, 2017. She will be missed by her family as well as those who knew and loved her in the Edmond Quilt Guild.

~Nell Claunch~ Nell would be pleased to know that NQA is predicting "Radiant Orchid," to be the color of the year for 2014. Many of us knew her as the "little lady who made BIG quilts," and always with a major or minor purple splash. At her memorial service, she was compared to the hospitable, Lydia, "the seller of Purple," in Acts 16. Nell was a member of more than four local quilt groups, having first learned to love quilting from her mother. One circle of treasured quilting friends came for a visit with a special memory quilt they made for her, when she could no longer participate. Another EQG member noted that, "She was just like my grandmother," and remembers that Nell had generously helped her on the day the guild had the Studio Tour when she was short of volunteer help. Nell was a teacher in the Jones public schools and then a sub in the Edmond schools after she retired, and she maintained close friendships with many of the teachers and former students, as well as her many quilting friends. Her generosity and thoughtfulness "paid it forward" when she needed caring and support the last few months of her life. We lost her in May of 2013.

~Debra Jane Lea~ Debra, after a battle with leukemia, died January 23, 2012. We will all remember her smiling face and she never had a bad thing to say about anybody. She even found good things to say about an ice storm. She was a charter member of EQG and an original member of the Beyond the Block group. She will be dearly missed by all that she knew and touched.

~Trish Pate~ Trish was a charter member and served on the first board of EQG as membership chairman. She helped set up the data base for the membership program and helped research our first computer. Our smooth beginnings were in part because of her hard work and diligence. She was a good sport, smart and always unselfish with her knowledge of quilting and any other endeavor the guild or member of the guild needed. Died October 31, 2011.

~Patricia Louise Sherman~ Pat was one of the founding members of EQG and our first treasurer. Her task in those early guild years was to help complete our IRS paperwork for our non-profit status. She was active with the St. Mary's Quilt Group, Central Oklahoma Quilters Guild, and was a driving force behind the start of the "Rotary Rebels" small group. She died Monday, April 7, 2008

~Evelyn Darnell York~ Evelyn was a charter member of EQG and mother to member Debi Pickens, and aunt of member Sharon Thompson. She was a member of "Beyond the Block" small group and opened her home once monthly for the study of art quilting and show and tell. One of her sayings "My seams match if you look at them from a galloping horse" is one we can all appreciate. Evelyn passed from this life to the next on April 17, 2008