Mt. Olive Seniors by Dixie Kuykendall

The North Jefferson News



The art of quilting is a journey of color, imagination and inspiration, and has long played a significant role in America’s culture.

Sadly, the traditional hand-sewn quilt making is being replaced by machine made quilts. That’s not the case at the Mt. Olive Community Center. These ladies (and some gentlemen) in the North Jefferson Quilting Guild have been keeping the art alive for almost 29 years.

The making of a quilt brings together beauty and practicality, as well as history, culture and community. The process traditionally involves skill, time and patience, and the Mt. Olive guild has all that plus the generosity of giving back.

This fall they will raffle two beautiful Alabama and Auburn quilts with the proceeds benefiting the community center.

Enjoying the fellowship and creating beautiful works of art is just part of their meetings. They truly look at what they do as a ministry.

Every year, baby quilts are delivered to the pulmonary and oncology departments at Children’s Hospital. Also, they quilt coverlets for the homeless which, according to Betty Kimbrell, “is not for show but to keep less fortunate people warm.”

Betty just completed teaching a class for 15 home schooled children, ages five to 14 years. This was a 4-H project for the children, but it really was much more. It inspired the children to discover the power of culture and the joy of creating a work of art.

Betty is not likely to rest on her laurels any time soon, but will instead continue pushing forward to keep perpetuating the art of quilting and giving to the community.

If you are interested in joining this group, they meet at the Mt. Olive Community Center every Tuesday morning, and there is also an evening class on Tuesdays.



At the center

On Thursday of this week, our regular Bingo game took a little different twist. We were honored to have Sandy Powell from Southern Care Hospice visit with us and she not only called the Bingo numbers, but provided all the prizes. Most agreed that she was prettier and had a much sweeter voice than our regular caller.

We also enjoyed birthday cake and ice cream honoring the May birthdays. Those adding a year this month included Wilford Humber, Pearl Dozer, Robert Fields, Jerri McLenden and Hattie Holmes. Happy Birthday!



In the Statehouse

With little accomplished, time is running out for this legislative session and they are talking about having to return for a special session to complete their work.

The House turned down another effort to rewrite Alabama’s 107-year-old constitution. They did not have enough votes to bring up a bill that would allow voters to decide during the 2010 primaries if they want to call a convention to write a new constitution.

Speaker Pro Tem Demetrius Newton, who introduced the bill, argued that the 1901 constitution is almost 800 pages long and filled with racist language and was written at a time when state government excluded blacks, women and the poor.

Dixie Kuykendall writes a weekly column on Mt. Olive seniors. She can be reached at 631-0049 or at dixiek@bellsouth.net.