By Barb Attard
This is a sad entry, yet at the same time, I hope an uplifting one. It’s a tribute to a quilting friend of mine, Lily Wright, who passed away on Wednesday evening.
Lily is a charter member of our guild, and I say “is”, because whether she is with us physically or not, she will always be a member of the guild. She was the one who helped start and build the guild to its present strength. I met Lily in the late 1980’s when I joined the guild. Cheerful and lively, generous with her time and skills, she symbolized everything that we aspire to as a guild. Workshops, baby quilt bees, quilting bees: Lily was always there. Her work was superb, all her quilts were hand-quilted with love, and are a wonderful legacy of a life well-lived.
I went and saw Lily when she was in palliative care at the hospital. She was sleeping, her husband keeping watch, and she was so thin and weary looking, that my heart just broke to see her. But then I noticed on the table near her bed were some patches, cut and hand-pieced. Quilting books spilled out of the closet, along with one of Lily’s quilts. On the bed was a second quilt she’d hand-quilted. Then Lily woke up and after a few groggy minutes, the spark came back into her eyes, and I thought, aha! Here is Lily! We chatted about quilts and guild business and had a lovely visit.
At our May meeting, I will see Lily, a member of our guild, hands busy knitting, or finishing off that last bit of binding on a quilt for a beloved grandchild, chatting and laughing with guild members. I am so sad for the loss of Lily, but at the same time,I welcome that sadness because it means I am grateful to have had the pleasure of Lily in my life.
