I'm gonna marry that boy someday.

This is the story of Shirley’s quilt.

You might remember the little clip we posted on Instagram about the bond between a mother and a daughter. You can see it again by clicking here.

This quilt was organized and planned for by one of Shirley’s daughters, Reba. As she visits her mom as much as she can and watches Alzheimer’s disease slowly steal her mother away, she wants to capture and remember as many memories as she could. Reba gathered her mom’s favorite clothes, clothes in her favorite colors and clothes that hold significant memories for the events in which they were worn. She also included some items from her dad, and other family members to make it a true family quilt, but the focus being her mom. Along with these items, she included photos and printed stories to describe in a small way of who her mother is. Sitting down with Reba, we also learned about the spunky, determined and feisty spirited mother of hers. We laughed and cried and most of all, admired the strength of her love.

Shirley married the love of her life and raised six children together. For what they were lacking in the bank, they had in love. Shirley saw her husband suffer a heart attack at the age of 32 and was told he wouldn’t make it. She did not accept that news and spent the next 12 years caring for him meticulously….while raising their six children. To say they experienced hard times is an understatement, but her strength and determination is well known by anyone who knows her. She did everything with great love. Speaking of love, this is the story she wrote about the love of her life:

I’m Gonna Marry That Boy Someday

It was the summer of 1949, when thirteen-year-old Dorcas Shirley Louise Hill saw William Henry Lane for the first time. This is our story.

It was the summer 1949 and Daddy had driven me over to my grandparents' house because granddad was ill and grandma needed my help around the house and running errands. They lived off Browder Hollow in Lenoir City, Tennessee. I had just finished my chores and was sitting under the big oak tree out front when I saw this handsome boy walk by the mailbox. He had curly black hair, was of medium height, rather thin and with a smile that could melt snow! He was standing out by the mailbox when he looked at me and smiled before walking on his way. I never saw him again while I was there that summer but I never forgot him.

When I was fifteen years old my parents bought a house next door to my grandparents. I was excited to be in the neighborhood because I still remembered that boy I'd seen two years before and hoped he'd still be around. A few months later I met an older woman who would pass by our mailbox almost every day. We fell into the habit of talking every time she came by. Well, one day while we were talking the handsome young man from two summers ago drove by in a car. I looked at the woman and impulsively said, "That's the boy I'm going to marry one day!" She smiled and replied, "He's mine, and you can have him." At that very instant I realized that this nice woman I'd been talking with was his mother! I ran inside and every time she passed by our house after that I would stay inside because I was so embarrassed that I had said that to her.

The boy, Billy, had a sister named Annette and she I became friends. One evening, while we were walking home from Broadway Baptist Church with a couple of friends, we saw Billy and a car load of his friends driving beside us. Billy, slowed down and asked, "Do you want a ride?" My heart was screaming "Yes!" but I knew my daddy would be furious if I got into a car full of guys so I answered, "No thanks." Then he asked if he could walk me home. My heart rate sped up as I answered, "yes." He tossed his car keys to one of his buddies and got out of the car right there. By now Annette and the others had walked a little bit ahead of us to give us some privacy. As we neared my house, Billy asked if he could call me. Daddy had always said we could not date until we were at least sixteen, but I told him yes anyway. Then I ran to the house anxious to tell my sister all about it.

My sister, Liz, told me that when he called I should make up an excuse and tell him I was busy. She said you don't accept the first invitation because you don't want to appear over anxious. I was thinking, "You stupid jerk, I want to go out with him!" But I did as she said and when he called I made up an excuse not to go out, but I did ask him to please call again. Weeks and weeks went by and he did not call. It felt like forever and I was really angry at my sister, thinking she had given me bad advice.

A couple of months later, Billy finally called again. He said he wanted to take me out on a date. I was so excited! I put on some jeans and a shirt and curled my hair. We went to the mountains on a picnic and we had to double date with my sister Liz and her husband, Josh. Still, it was a perfect day that I will never forget.

Again, it was weeks before Billy called me, and this time it was with the news he was leaving to join the Merchant Marines. Back then Billy had a reputation for dating all the girls in town. Around town, they even called him "love 'em and leave 'em Bill" and now he was leaving me. I wished him luck and said goodbye thinking this was the last time I would hear his voice. My heart was breaking.

Reluctantly, I started to date a new guy, Buddy. He was handsome and very nice but my heart and thoughts were with Billy. We dated for a while and then I got a phone call from Billy asking if he could write to me. I said yes, that would be fine. So, we wrote back and forth to each other for about a few weeks. Then, one day I got a letter telling me he would be in port soon and wanted to call me. Every day I sat by the phone waiting for it to ring. It seemed like years before it finally rang. It was Billy calling and he asked if I would marry him if he could get out of his commitment with the Merchant Marines. I told him we would talk about it when he got home. It took him about three months to get out of his contract with the Merchant Marines. Billy returned home and we became engaged.

We were engaged for six months before Billy and I were married on August 23rd, 1952 by a Justice of the Peace. We shared thirty-two wonderful years together before he was taken by the Lord. We had six children, seventeen grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.

In my heart, I am still married to Bill and I will continue sharing our love story with each of my children and their children as long as I live.

In terms of the quilt’s design, we found a theme of red, black, white and royal blue… her most favorite color. A quilt consists of four components: the patchwork top, the unseen middle layer to give depth, the back fabric and the edging around it all, called the trim. Reba put full creative liberties in our hands, and did not even want to see what we selected for the back or trim until she saw the quilt in person. Before finalizing our decision, we just asked her one question, “are you okay with bold?”. She said she fully trusts what we choose. So, bold it was. Shirly needed a bold back to finish the look. In black letters on a stark white background, the fabric we chose for the back was filled with scripted words that in our opinion, were written just for Shirley! It was filled with words like resilient, vivacious, happy, feisty, wonderful, tough, bold, wonderful, just to mention a few. We could have chosen a black trim to frame it in it’s own style, but we diverted and chose her favorite color, royal blue. When Reba came to pick up her finished quilt, I immediately noticed that she, too, was wearing that exact shade of blue. She said she did that on purpose, not even knowing the color of the quilt’s trim. It was surely meant to be.

The quilt was opened with her mom, Shirley, in the assisted living home in which she now resides. I’m not sure it would be possible for any cheeks to be dry when seeing Shirley, a woman of few words now, light up when she saw her quilt. The staff at The Palace (the assisted living home in Miami, Florida) were astonished and touched as well by this moment. We would say that’s a story full circle, but in this case, we prefer to say that’s love, squared.