RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) – Tom Estill finds comfort in a quilt his late wife Peggy made for him before she died.
“She was able to finish it all, except for the binding,” he said.
A prolific quilter, Peggy died of desmoplastic round cell carcinoma, an extremely rare and aggressive cancer. She was just 47.
“‘From my heart for all time, with my love,’” Estill said to her. “She took her last breath and I immediately whispered in her ear.”
The quilt serves as a loving way for the 73-year-old to remember her. “Her quilts were always simple,” Estill said. “She did all the quilts — the whole quilts — by hand. She never used a machine.”
At Christ the King School in Rutland, Estill leads a most unusual club. The Quilting Club is both to honor Peggy and make a blanket for a newborn in the area. Estill,a former science teacher, is now a long-time Foster Grandparent at the school. Four eighth graders – Kenny O’Rouke, Tessa McGee, Anna O’Brien, and Brooklyn Werbinski — will pick up the needle after the holidays and make their own creations. They all know of Peggy’s passing.
“Very sweet,” O’Brien said.
“I feel it’s very nice that he gets this with us, so we can go on to do it,” said McGee.
Reporter Joe Carroll: Do you quilt?
Tom Estill: No, I do not, but I’m learning how. I’m learning how to quilt this year.
“We really haven’t done one incorporating green yet,” McGee said. “We’ve done two before.”
Reporter Joe Carroll: Two, you’re veterans.
Tessa McGee: Yeah.
Peggy made hundreds of quilts in her lifetime and gave them all away. She worked at the Rutland Regional Medical Center. “Peggy was my hero,” Estill said. “She was a no-nonsense nurse, very good at what she did… She was quilting to the very end, quilting to the very end until she couldn’t do it anymore.”
She died on Christmas Eve in 1998. “Even after 25 years, things will come up, memories, that… It’s hard,” Estill said. “And I have these kids here that give me such joy.”
There are three leftover boxes of material. The hope is to make use of every last piece. “Tears will be coming to my eyes on that one,” Estill said. But for now, he carefully puts back the fabric. “She always had a plan for the pieces she bought… She would be so thrilled that this is being done.”
A memory that lives on.