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Akron, Pa.
MCC volunteer sewed blankets at age 90


Board members honoured MCC workers, volunteers and supporters who died in the past year. Among them was Atlee Beechy of Goshen, Ind., well known among Mennonites for his work in peacemaking. Also shared was this story about a lesser known individual.

Helena Friesen of the Conference of Mennonites in Saskatchewan was long a volunteer who pieced and sewed MCC blankets. She stopped coming to the MCC Saskatchewan Material Resource Centre in the late 1980s, working instead at home on quilt tops and layettes. After her husband died, she had no source of transportation, so MCC staff began bringing layette pieces to her house.

“She would ask for 50 layettes because she thought she might not get them done for a few months,” relates staff member Dorene Epp. “About two or three weeks later she would call me to pick them up and bring her another 50. Eventually her request was for 75, then 100 at a time, always with the same comment: ‘I hope you aren’t in a rush for them.’

“She continued sewing layettes even after she found it difficult to walk. In fact, she still sewed eight hours before she died. She passed away on May 17, 2001, a month short of her 91st birthday. She will be missed.”

 – Cathleen Hockman–Wert for Meetinghouse

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Last modified October 10, 2001.

© 2001 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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