RISON - Dozens of people were on hand at the Cleveland County Courthouse Saturday morning to see descendants of Artie Elizabeth Hamilton Ryburn formally unveil a hand-sown World War II "Service Men's Quilt" made by the Home Demonstration Clubs of Cleveland County in 1944.
After the clubs made the quilt, it was displayed around the county before being raffled off to buy war bonds. Each of the 22 Home Demonstration Clubs in the county involved with the quilt took at least one block to hand stitch the names of those men and women from their area who were serving or had served during the war through 1944.
More than 900 names ended up on the quilt. Artie Elizabeth Hamilton Ryburn, who worked on the quilt herself, ended up winning it. According to family, Mrs. Ryburn considered the Service Men's Quilt her "prized possession" before passing it on to her son, Doyle Ryburn, and his wife, Marilyn. Following Doyle's death, Marilyn Ryburn passed the quilt along to their niece, Dr. Pamela Ryburn Pruett, who is the family and consumer science agent for the Mississippi County Cooperative Extension Office in Osceola.
Karen Bell Fox with Cleveland County Extension Homemakers, the modern-day version of the Home Demonstration Clubs, was approached by Dr. Pruett at a state Extension Homemakers meeting about returning the quilt to Cleveland County where the ancestors of those whose names are on the quilt could enjoy it.
"I don't think it's fair to keep something with 900 names on it in a private home," Dr. Pruett said during Saturday's ceremony dedicating the quilt. The framed 9 foot by 9 foot quilt is now on on display along a wall near the front entrance to the courthouse.
Fox took on the quilt project and planned to raise $5,000 to have it framed and mounted. She also published a book that lists all the names from the quilt as well as others from the county who served in World War II after the quilt was finished in 1944.
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