Dolores G. Grossnickle

Dolores Grossnickle had been quilting since she was a teenager. She had just completed the  finishing work on a quilt made by her church’s quilting group for a disaster relief auction when a heart attack took her life.

“We were all quite shocked,” said daughter Judy Lohman of Myersville, Md.

The finished quilt was on display at Dolores’ funeral.

Judy said her mother quilted with several groups — Friendship Quilters Guild in Hagerstown, Fahrney-Keedy’s Quilt Group and Grossnickle Church of the Brethren Quilters Group.

While she describes her mother as “humble, quiet, kind,” Judy learned at her mother’s funeral just what a spark plug she was for the church’s quilting group. It was Dolores who developed the pattern, usually inspired from an old quilting pattern, chose the fabrics and color combinations, and led the team of quilters.

“She was recognized as the leader. She came early, stayed late and tied up the loose ends,” said Pastor Donna Ritchey Martin, who with her husband is co-pastor of Grossnickle Church of the Brethren near Myersville, and a member of the quilting group.

Every year since 1981, when the Disaster Relief Auction was started, Dolores assembled a group of quilters to create their offering for the annual auction, which is sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic District Church of the Brethren to benefit its Emergency Disaster Response Fund.

In October or November, Dolores would offer workshops for the quilters to share the best quilting stitches and techniques.

“She was quite a teacher of the applique,” Donna said.

Donna said at the start of each quilt, Dolores would give each member of the quilting group a Ziploc bag of quilt pieces she had cut out, along with thread and supplies. She insisted that all of the piecing, appliqueing and quilting be done by hand.

Dolores hosted the quilters in the basement of her Myersville home, but after she moved to Fahrney-Keedy after a fall a year and a half ago, the quilters began meeting in the church. Despite her move, she remained active in her church’s community.

The Grossnickle group’s quilts have commanded high prices because of the quality of their work and the appealing designs Dolores created. Their 2003 quilt sold for more than $4,000, Donna said.

As members of the group got older, they would purchase a quilt top in Lancaster, Pa., but do the quilting and finishing themselves.

Jane Kendall, who lives near Middletown, Md., is the same age as Dolores. She said they were “very, very close friends” and that Dolores was her niece. She said Dolores was very supportive when Jane’s husband died 17 years ago.

The women went on bus trips and into town together. They didn’t see each other as often after Dolores moved to Fahrney-Keedy, but talked on the phone several times a week.

“I’m really going to miss her lots now. We can’t talk on the phone now,” said Jane, who added Dolores was more like a sister. “She was just a good person.”

As a teenager, Dolores was an avid quilter and seamstress. After she married Robert Grossnickle and they started a family, Dolores put her quilting aside to focus on raising their three children — two daughters and a son. They also ran a dairy farm near the church and raised chickens, cows and hogs.

“You always put your family first,” Judy said. “My mother drove us to piano lessons, swimming lessons, church camps and 4-H club activities. She did not take time to pamper herself or pursue her own interests as she was busy raising her children and handling the role of the farm wife.”

Dolores sewed most of her children’s and her clothing, as well as children’s choir robes for the church. She taught her daughters, Karen Toms of Charles Town, W.Va., and Judy, to embroider and sew, and got them involved in 4-H, but neither shared their mother’s passion for quilting.