Ties that Bind

January 2024

Imagine squeezing a lifetime of living into an 8 by 8-inch quilt square. Now imagine doing it for the families of organ donors while working on deadline.

“You feel a sense of responsibility,” said Laura Snook, a member of the Ocean Waves Quilters Guild in Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

In a collaboration of love, the Guild breathed life into one of LifeQuest’s most treasured projects, the Strom Bryson Memorial Donor Quilt, named for a young organ donor from Tallahassee.

Days before the 2023 Tribute to Life, Guild members donated their time and resources toward putting finishing touches on the memorial quilt in time to unveil it at the annual ceremony honoring organ donors.

LifeQuest Family Services Coordinator Pamela Rittenhouse set things in motion when she stopped by a monthly meeting of the Guild to ask if the group’s members would be willing to lend a hand.

“The Guild felt an immediate connection,” said Jan Coursey, president of the Ocean Waves Quilters Guild. “We wanted to do whatever we could to help.”

Jan gave the nod for the collaboration, and the group’s members offered their support. Laura was primarily responsible for sewing the Strom Bryson Memorial Donor Quilt which is dedicated to preserving the memories of those who have given the Gift of Life.

All told, Laura devoted more than 40 hours over a 12-day period to the project. Working with cherished items shared by donor families, she crafted the quilt squares of four organ donors and pieced together a collection of remembrances from donor families throughout northern Florida.

“Everyone has different talents, and everyone has a different amount of time they can devote to projects,” Jan said. “Everything she [Laura] makes is done meticulously.  Her colors are beautiful and brilliantly matched. She volunteered to make one of the blocks and eventually assembled the quilt when the need arose.”

LifeQuest continuously collects handmade squares from donor families to create more donor memorial quilt panels. There are currently 12 panels. Once 20 squares are crafted, they are sewn together into a quilt and displayed at special events, and when not in use, the quilts are displayed in LifeQuest offices throughout northern Florida.

The Strom Bryson Memorial Quilt project was launched in 1998 as a collaboration between LifeQuest, a local tissue bank, eye bank, and Martha Bryson, the mother of the quilt’s namesake, Strom Bryson. Martha chose the quilt project to honor her son, who as a toddler carried a full-sized quilt around the house instead of a baby blanket, and to allow other families to honor their loved ones. When Strom passed in 1995, he gave the Gift of Life to four individuals awaiting organ transplants. When Martha passed in 2009, she also gave the Gift of Life.  They are memorialized together on the tenth panel of the quilt.

Each quilt embodies the personality of the donors through the pieces of fabric and clothing sewn into the quilt. Each memory square is as unique as the donor hero being represented.

Laura wanted to learn as much as she could about each donor as she crafted several squares and pieced together all 20. She watched videos about their lives from the LifeQuest YouTube channel.

“I was really moved by the entire process of it,” Laura said. “I can’t imagine these families and how they go about doing it, especially when they’re so young. The hardest ones were the two children. It resonates. It’s just difficult. I don’t know how the families do it.”

Some quilt squares have pictures, others sayings.  Some are pieces of fabric with no name at all. Individually, they embody the set of characteristics that make each person who they are. Overall, they represent the lives of donor heroes woven together by the thread of donation.

A patchwork dinosaur. A favorite photo. The words “Ginger Boy.” Each represents the brief life of David Figueroa, 3 months. He saved two lives.

“Even in death I gave life,” is the powerful message stitched into the quilt square of Omari Jackson, 18. He saved six lives.

Mason Sturms, 4, loved Marvel Comics and superheroes before he became one. Mason saved three lives.

A Star of David. Lady bugs. Atlanta Braves baseball. All were meant to reflect Aimee Sachs’, 38, zest for living. She saved three lives.

“The pictures made it a little more special to the family,” said Laura, whose mother introduced her to quilting. “I never sewed a stitch until I was in my forties.”

Quilting adds challenge and creativity to Laura’s life, but it is the camaraderie of her quilting community she cannot live without.

“People who quilt are very open, very giving, very willing to share their knowledge,” Laura said.

The Guild works with a long list of charities to provide comfort and care to those in need of healing or a hug.  They make everything from heart pillows for Hospice patients to treat bags for the Ronald McDonald House.

“They use their talents to help other people,” Pamela said.

The Ocean Waves Quilters Guild meets monthly in the cultural center at Christ Church  in Ponte Vedra Beach.

The Guild takes on projects to help others heal and move on after a difficult loss. They also provide comfort and security through personalized handmade quilts, pillows and bags.

“The ladies of Ocean Wave Quilters Guild love to sew,” Jan said. “I personally do a lot of sewing, hemming, alterations for my family, but making things to give to bless someone we have never met and probably never will is something that just makes all of the sewers feel good.”

(By Kim Gilmore, Senior Public Education Coordinator)