The Graceville I knew... and the quilts my grandmother made

My grandmother Cannie (Not Connie) Clark was one of those people who made do with whatever there was to get by with. She was a survivor of the Great Depression years and had learned as many had, to make do. She lived in the community around Compass Lake, Florida near her sister and brother. I would usually get to go stay with her for a week or two at the time during the summer. Those were special times and great memories. I learned how to swim in Compass Lake near her home. Our other visits with her were usually on a Sunday’s afternoon. Daddy would drive us down there after Sunday dinner. Daddy would have to borrow a car for us to go, as we didn’t get our own car until 1948.

My memories of Grandmother were spurred by recently seeing some Patch-work Quilts. She was always getting scraps of clothe from anywhere she could. She had patterns that she had traced out on old newspapers and cut them for further use. She would cut the clothe into the shape of the patterns and spend a lot of her time piecing them together into quilt tops. She was known all around the area for her quilts. I am blessed to have several of her finished quilts and many of her un-quilted tops. After my parents passed and we inherited the old home place, we had to clean out the items remaining in the house. We found several grocery bags full of clothe that my parents had saved from Grandmother’s collections.

Column by Graceville native Bill Clark.