A PATCHWORK OF MEMORIES
Susie Whitacre displays her quilt on Presidents' Evening |
When a Division President leaves office, she takes with her a wealth of memories. Virginia Division President Susie Whitacre got more than that when she passed the gavel on to her successor in October. Thanks to the hard work of West Point Chapter member Peggy Atkins and her daughters Tory Atkins, Pam Fogg, and Meredith Ann Wyatt (also chapter members), Susie is the proud possessor of a handmade quilt detailing the highlights of her two years at the helm of one of the UDC's largest and most active Divisions.
The brainchild of then-Division Vice President Sam Lougheed, who is now serving as Virginia Division President, the quilt was presented to Susie on Presidents' Evening at the 106th Virginia Division convention in Woodtsock, Va.
The insignia of Virginia Division UDC occupies a place of honor in the center of the quilt and is bordered with 13 eight-pointed stars representing the 13 Confederate States and four panels of dogwood (Virginia's State flower). Nine additional panels feature:
- The cardinal (Virginia's State bird)
- A silouhette representing the ladies of the Randolph Relief Fund (Susie currently serves as General Chairman of Randolph Relief Fund Committee, which provides financial aid to a number of surviving daughters of Confederate veterans)
- A wreath symbolizing the many memorial services that Susie attended during her term of office
- A Southern lady in hoop skirts symbolizing the graciousness that characterized Susie and her tenure as Division President
- An apple representing Winchester, Susie's home town and the undisputed "Apple Capital" of the Old Dominion
- A gavel for her two conventions (Roanoke and Woodstock)
- Musical notes symbolizing "Dixie"
- A botton boll
- Children symbolizing the women and children killed in the explosion of the Brown's Island munitions factory and memorialized by a marker placed in Richmond's Oakwood Cemetery during Susie's presidency (see related story).
Although Division officers had raised funds to pay for the final product, the quilters declined to accept any reimbursement for their labors. The money was donated instead to the Randolph Relief Fund in honor of the West Point ladies.
(L-R): Peggy Atkins, Pam Fogg, Meredith Ann Wyatt, Tory Atkins, and Susie Whitacre |