Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Ruth Kennedy: 2014

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?



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