A quilting bee was held at the Colman Community Center on July 26 in memory of Pat Landis on her birthday.
Landis, who passed away in March, had been making Quilts of Valor for veterans in the Colman and Egan communities, along with Mary Ehrichs, for the past two years.
Ehrichs helped to organize the Pat Landis Quilts of Valor Day and said she was pleasantly pleased with how the event turned out.
“I had no idea what was going to happen,” Ehrichs said. “[People] all brought their own sewing machines and cutting equipment and ironing boards. That was an important part of it, the fellowship with everybody.”
Forty-six community members attended the quilting bee throughout the day to both visit and to help complete the quilts Landis had planned to make this year.
She knew this coming November would be a big year; after starting with World War II veterans, followed by Korean veterans and last year Cuban Missile crisis and Berlin standoff veterans, she and Ehrichs planned to make quilts for Vietnam veterans.
While the past few years she made just under 10 quilts for local veterans, this year over 20 quilts will be needed to honor those veterans.
Ehrichs said those who were able to help during the quilting bee completed 14 Quilts of Valor for veterans this year.
In 2016, Landis was nominated for a statewide award for her volunteer work by the Colman American Legion Auxiliary branch for Unit Member of the Year.
She was a member of the ALA for 35 years.
Landis was nominated not only for her work with Quilts of Valor, but also for the additional volunteer work she did for Red Cross.
She spent three weeks in Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina assisting with relief efforts. Landis then took classes on how to drive an Emergency Response Vehicle, and helped at the San Diego wildfires, traveled to Missouri three times to help with relief and drove the ERV when Hurricane Sandy hit the east coast.
Above, Mauryn Landis learns from Delores Warfield how to put together a quilt. Mauryn is the granddaughter of the late Pat Landis, who the quilting day honoring. She is the daughter of Justin and Brandi Landis.
