A meaningful quilt

Hello,

My father John H Conner III forwarded your Pearl News to me. Mary (Mamie) Franks and her daughters Jane Franks and Merle Franks Conner were members. Merle Franks Conner is my grandmother. Several years ago, my grandmother gave me quilt squares that belonged to Mamie and were from the Pleasure and Profit Club. Members had completed a square each and embroidered their names on it, but it was never pieced into a quilt. My sisters and I worked together to piece and quilt it to finish the project our great-grandmother Franks had begun. I have attached a picture of the finished quilt. The other picture was when my sisters and I were working on it. (left to right: Laura, Jennifer, and me-Caroline). 

The women who embroidered their names on squares:

Coma Jones* 

Ona Jones* 

Vera*

Marie Kelley*

Mrs. Herring* 

Henrietta*

Myrtle*

Eula Mae Cox*

Faye Witt*

Ora Mae*

Selma Lacy*

Erma Lee*

Bonnie Brown*

A few squares were empty without names. 

I love to read your writings about the club. It’s wonderful to feel close to these women who shaped the woman I am today! 

Kindest Regards,

Caroline (Conner) Sparks 

*(These ladies were members in the mid 1930’s and into the 1940’s, and most of them still have relatives in the Pearl/Evant areas.)

To say I was thrilled to have received this letter and the pictures is an understatement. Many of you may have your own stories about the ladies of The Pleasure and Profit Club, and I hope you will feel free to share. These ladies took care of the community of Pearl in many ways for many, many years, such as the Pearl School needs, the cemetery, and those who were sick or in need. We are blessed to have such a legacy, and I know it inspires you and I to be the kinds of giving and caring women as were our ancestors. Thank you, Caroline, and it is a joy to see that the apple does not fall far from the tree!

Be sure and like the Pearl Community Center, Texas Facebook page, and the Pearl Cottage Bookstore and Resale Shop Facebook page! Please submit any Pearl news to betsyclark47@yahoo.com

“Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her, ‘There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!’” Proverbs 31:28,29