Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org
Surnames: Theiler, Burgquist, Lawrence, Fender, Lund, Seig, Anderson, Nibbe, Vantassel, Riphenburg, Jaeschke, Passow, Lamovec, Brandt, Jacobson
----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 1/02/2019
After 40 Years, the Humbird Quilters Still Letting Others Know (They Care - 2019)
After 40 years, the basement of Humbird’s St. John’s United Church of Christ is buzzing with activity. Those who venture down the narrow stairway will find members of the Humbird Quilters busy at work creating pieces of work that have brought joy to hundreds of recipients. Members of the Humbird Quilters are (front, l-r) Lavonne Lawrence of Neillsville, Barb Fender of Neillsville, Betty Lund of Black River Falls (BRF), Joy Seig of Osseo, Nancy Anderson of Osseo, Nancy Nibbe of BRF, Geri Vantassel of Osseo, (back) Karen Riphenburg of Fairchild, Christine Burgquist of Fairchild, Cindy Jaeschke of Humbird, Barb Passow of Hixton, Patty Lamovec of Willard, Karen Brandt of BRF, Valerie Jacobson of Humbird and Susie Theiler of Humbird. (Contributed photo)
By JoDee Brooke
It was in 1979 when a group of ladies decided after learning to quilt, they’d do quilting for others. They began meeting at St. John’s United Church of Christ in Humbird. It’s a little church that sits on top of a hill overlooking the little town. While snow and ice can make the trek up the hill tricky in the winter, Susie Theiler (she’s 80 years old), the lone member of the original group, says there haven’t been many Tuesdays they haven’t met at the church.
They meet every Tuesday afternoon. Today’s club welcomes quilters from Humbird, Osseo, Neillsville, Willard, Fairchild and Black River Falls. “And, they all consider themselves Humbird Quilters,” said Susie.
Everyone has their own little niche,” shared Susie. “One group does the tying, another the hand-quilting and Christine (Burgquist) over there is piecing a new quilt.
There is no formal organization to the club. “That’s when we get into trouble,” Susie said. “There’s no president or vice president. There are three rules though. We don’t talk religion, because we’re all from different denominations. We don’t talk politics and we don’t gossip. Once in a while, I have to raise my finger as a reminder.”
Susie is an avid quilter, has been for years. People know her work. They often learn by word of mouth of her and the club’s work and they often get asked to work on quilts for others.
“We started taking in quilting for other people,” explained Susie. “Everyone in our group helps. We use the money we make quilting for others to buy more supplies, so we can make more quilts.”
They charge by the yards of thread used. “Forty cents a yard, and we’re cheap,” shared several members of the club.
Susie is the teacher. “I wished I’d kept track of how many people I’ve taught to quilt through the years; it’s be a lot.”
“She’s taught us so much,” shared quilter Nancy Nibbe of Black River Falls.
“And I still make mistakes,” admitted Susie, “and I bring them back to the club and tell them, ’OK, don’t do this.’”
Almost all of the quilts the club makes for itself are donated to area organizations or for raffles. Last Wednesday, some of the club members delivered 10 quilts to the Trinity Equestrian Center. “They work with children and veterans,” explained Susie. “We made these quilts for the veterans. We delivered 17 last year, and we have another 10 this year. There was one gentleman that took his quilt and put on one of the horses. We didn’t quite understand that, but they told us when he bought it back inside with him, the smell of the horse on the blanket he covered up with made him feel safe.”
A number of quilts have been given to both Jackson and Clark County Human Services to give to veterans. Each quilt is packed inside a matching pillowcase with a card sharing a special note from the club. All of the fabric for the veterans’ quilts, years and yards of it, came from people who did not need the fabric for whatever reason.
Bolton Refuge House has received several quilts. “Christmas time is a tough time,” said Susie, “Our goal is to give them warmth and comfort.”
“A lot of good things have come out of here,” as Susie looks around the cozy church basement. “It’s something we want to do for the veterans and others, something to let them know someone cares; to give joy to someone else gives us joy.”
(Transcriber’s note: There were a total of 7 photos, so I only chose the one showing the many members. Dmk)
