A Quilter's Eulogy--by her daughter
Connie Einarson
week's column:
Riding the Prairie Winds
By Carol Ann Jones
Missing Mom
Last night I found a wooden baseball bat, the one Mom used to use to
kill mice when we lived on the farm. She was wicked with that thing. The
mice didn't stand a chance with Mom and her bat around. That got me
thinking about the mother who became my friend after I grew up.
Caroline Jones, my mother, had a master's degree English and Home Ec.
She was a teacher and an artist, with words, a paintbrush, and sewing and
quilting. She was a remarkable woman. She worked with Dad to turn the old
Farmers Union Oil Company building from Van Hook into a comfortable home. By
the time they got done with that greasy, dirty old building, it had an
efficient kitchen that Mom designed and Dad built, a wall of bookcases
filled with books I read from cover to cover, three bedrooms and a bathroom
with running water. Running water may not seem impressive today but I recall
the cold trips to that little building out back when I was young.
When Dad got into politics, Mom wrote his speeches but she always made
me write my own school reports. She was a Faremrs Union Youth Leader when I
was a kid. She made me pretty dresses with lace collars and warm flannel
nighties. I didn't appreciate her dressmaking skills until I was in the
eighth grade. Mom made five dresses and bought one dress. That store-bought
dress cost more than all five dresses put together. Valuable lesson learned.
I am eternally grateful that she taught me to sew.
Could that woman cook! She made the best marble cake and cocoa bars. Her
venison stew and stuffed wild duck were mouthwatering. When Bud Sigloh
brought us freshly caught perch, Mom cleaned them; something she learned
growing up on Rainy River in northern Min-nesota, on land my grandmother May
Smart homesteaded.
Mom really got into textile painting. Every cousin got a tablecloth
painted with beautiful flowers for a high school graduation or wedding
present. Her painted items won ribbons at the North Dakota State Fair. She
even painted flowers on the Tupperware she used to take food to church
dinners. She took an oil painting class and painted pictures that I
treasure. She also took an upholstery class and turned an old ratty rocking
chair into something beautiful.
Mom's church was important to her. We belonged to Trinity Lutheran in
Palermo. Mom and Dad were active in the movement to combine First Lutheran
and Trinity when Palermo's population dwindled. Mom drew the plans for
combining the buildings and the folks built a model of the new buildings. I
can still see that cool model of those two churches put together. The new
church, Faith Lutheran, is a beautiful church and something they were both
proud of.
In her later years, Mom started quilting. When the folks went to Hawaii
in 1981, she came home with three boxes of Hawaiian fabrics that she made
into quilts, and won a ribbon at the North Dakota State Fair. She also made
blocks for the North Dakota State Quilt.
I am proud of her accomplishments. She raised two kids on a small farm
during some pretty lean years. She taught me to love books, cook and sew and
laugh at myself. We had a great time when we went to Ireland and England.
Standing side by side at Stonehenge and wan-dering through castles with Mom
was incredible. Touring London with her was fun, especially when we stopped
at the Harley Davidson shop in London.
But two years ago today my friend, my confidante, my mother died after a
long battle with Alzheimer's disease. The woman she was got lost in the
disease she had. I am still kinda lost without her, but her quilts, her
baseball bat and her paintings remind me of who she was and what she was to
me.
Sharon Harper
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Sharon From Melbourne Australia (Qof DU)
http://www.geocities.com/shazrules/index.html
Member of the Houston 2004 Party Animals
"Connie Einarson" <lace...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
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Sugar & Spice Quilts by Linda E
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