Quilt’s generational journey ends with warm welcome home

A hot meal and a warm quilt are unquestionably good for the body and soul.

Combining the two could evoke cozy, warm memories of bygone days when the best way to counter the chill of winter’s icy breath was with the aroma of home cooking drifting from the kitchen, underneath a beautifully crafted, hand-sewn layer of delicate stitches embossed on fabric scraps which seem to fit as perfectly together as any jigsaw puzzle.

Recently all of those elements seemed to align in just the right way, as this special story’s cast of characters included, a lovely friendship quilt, a delicious warm meal, and a missing puzzle piece, all on a brisk December day.

Twin Cities’ native Barbara Baker Binford, daughter of the late Gene and Sally Baker and wife of Greg Binford, a native of Fulton, were at the home of Greg’s parents, the late Charles and Betty Binford, gathering together with family and friends to honor the memory of Greg’s father, who passed away this month.

Someone came to the door, and when Barbara answered, local business owner Jeff Vaughn was there with a brisket, ready to be given to the grieving family, as is the custom of Southern hospitality and tradition when families experience loss.

Barbara and Jeff began to discuss their connections to the community, making attempts to pinpoint when and where each one attended school in Fulton or South Fulton, and soon determined they knew many of the same people while growing up here.

As each called out names of those they knew, one name Jeff used stuck a cord with Barbara. That, is when a piece of the decades-in-the-making puzzle began to materialize.

“Jeff kept naming people he was related to and he said do you know any of the Cavitt’s? He said a few names and then he mentioned Quilar Cavitt and I said wait….I maybe have a quilt of hers and some of your relatives,” Barbara said.

She then shared the story of a quilt, which she kept at her home in Collierville, Tenn.

Corry Bagsby whose name is at the center of this particular quilt was Barbara’ mother’s, Sally Baker’s, house keeper and baby sitter in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, when their family lived in the Twin Cities area, specifically when Barbara, her parents and her brother, Mike, lived on Vine Street in Fulton.

Barbara recalled long after Corry no longer worked for the family, they remained close friends with her, going to her house for visits, taking occasional meals and cookies during the Christmas season.

“I’m not sure at what point my mother got the quilt from Corry. She always told me it was a friendship quilt of Corry’s and explained how the ladies would sit around for hours and work on their section of the quilt,” Barbara said.

Sally Baker always kept this quilt on a quilt rack with her many treasured quilts. When Sally and Gene Baker moved from South Fulton in 1987 to Nashville, Tenn. where they lived for about 10 years, and then when they later moved to Diamond Head, Miss., about an hour from New Orleans, she continued to display “Corry’s quilt.”

Sally and Gene Baker had to leave the area when Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, and they then moved to Collierville, Tenn. where Barbara and Greg, along with their daughter lived. Sally and Gene resided there until their deaths in 2011.

Barbara kept the quilt, but other blankets began to be added to the quilt rack where it had been displayed, so she got the notion to begin researching some of the names carefully embroidered on the quilt, jotting down each one and making attempts to utilize Ancestry.com, an online genealogy site, to seek out potential relatives listed for Corry.

She hit a dead end.

But on this particular December evening, during a chance meeting with someone who came to the family’s door with a kind gesture of condolence, as she recounted to Jeff Vaughn, the names on the quilt, he began to chat with his family members and discovered most all of the names on “Corry’s quilt” were his relatives, many of whom he had never met.

Jeff’s interest was first triggered after he mentioned his mother was a Cavitt. His maternal grandfather was J.T. Cavitt. His great-grandmother was Quillar Cavitt.

The date displayed on Corry’s friendship quilt, along with Quillar Cavitt’s name, was 1920.

Another name on the quilt was Gracie Cavitt, married to Jeff’s great-uncle.

“When I finished talking to Barbara, I sent a text to my sister, to see if she had any more information about some of the names on the quilt or how these people may have been related to us. It just happened, on that evening, I got a call from some South Fulton natives who grew up here, and whose family had ties to this community for many years. They then gave me a history lesson on a lot of the names on the quilt,” Jeff said.

On Dec. 7, “Corry’s quilt” was given to Jeff Vaughn, to return to the family tree, now with numerous branches added since the roots first took hold, when friends and family members gathered to preserve each stitch and each cherished story so long ago.

Jeff plans to consult with a local woodworker to determine a way to display and preserve the quilt, which he plans to pass down to future generations of his family.

“The quilt was returned to the family after all these years. Jeff was so excited about it and he said he is trying to determine the best way to display and preserve it,” Barbara said, adding this “friendship quilt” continues to serve a purpose, and remain true to its name.