Ruth W. Kennedy is the oldest of the
quilters living. So cool. Generous, welcoming, appreciative. She enjoys
speaking of her long life. Her father ran the cotton gin, extra cotton from the gin was given by Ruth’s father to women in
the community to use for quilt batting, they would have to pick the tiny seeds
out of the fluff so that the oil did not stain the fabric. Ruth talks about the
communal process of quilting: during the winter the women would go from house
to house in the evenings in order to work on the quilts of their neighbors.
They’d sing, gossip, philosophize and eat.
Ruth married Johnny Kennedy and they were
able to buy their home and land from his parents. The house is a Roosevelt
House, and Johnny added to it creatively and well. They planted everything.
Cotton, vegetables, corn, raised their own meat. Ruth had only three daughters
who all went to college.
One afternoon I stop by at Ruth’s to
introduce Sammy. She is welcoming in curlers and delights in my daughter. Her
hair! Does she comb it all by herself?
