In memory of father: Joey Reyes Owen donates quilts to 48 WHRC residents

Gazette News Intern

On Memorial Day, residents of the Whitman Health & Rehab Center in Colfax were thrilled by the gifts they found themselves to be receiving from a stranger, Joey Reyes Owen. She made 48 quilts and donated them in memory of her father, Fidel Reyes.

“It was just a labor of love,” she explained.

Joey was born and raised in Colfax, one of the daughters of Josie and Fidel Reyes who immigrated to the area in 1965 from Cuba. Now living in Marysville, her love, appreciation and dedication to the art of sewing was learned as a young girl from her mother.

A resident of the WHRC suffering from dementia, her mother was also the inspiration for this large undertaking.

Joey made a quilt almost two years ago for her mother Josie, already a resident in the WHRC at the time. After Josie had given the quilt to mother, her father Fidel suggested a much larger project: making a quilt for each of the residents there.

And so Joey began. With her Bernina sewing machine, she set out on the project in August of 2011 and steadily worked her way to her goal.

But making the quilts wasn’t always a smooth road. In fact, the ending especially was a daunting experience. Joey called the WHRC the Thursday before Memorial Day to ensure that she would still be visiting Monday with the quilts she made only to learn that there were 48 residents, six more than she had been told earlier.

Having enough quilts for every resident was imperative. A mad scramble to finish six additional quilts ensued.

“I didn’t want somebody to feel left out,” explained Owen.

The completed collection of 48 quilts was presented to the residents at the WHRC by Joey on Memorial Day.

She was accompanied by her husband, Glenn Owen, and her sister, Audie Guidi of Colfax.

In the end, 192 yards of fabric and 72 yards of batting had been used to complete all of the quilts. The 146 different fabrics used for the project worked to give each individual quilt its own personality and showed the thought that Joey put into each quilt.

“Every one of them is different,” admired Cyndi Dvorak, a staff member at the WHRC. “No two of them are the same.”

Joey was touched by the experience.

“It was so stinkin’ sweet to watch the little old ladies choose which quilt they wanted, and the men cry and say ‘but you don’t even know me,’” she said.

The quilts were created and donated in loving memory of the person who suggested the project, her father Fidel Reyes, who sadly passed away the 16th of June last year. They were given on Memorial Day, which this year would have been his birthday.

The inspiration, her mother, was also in Joey’s mind as she gave the quilts to the residents.

“She’s the one who taught me to sew, and had she been in her right mind I think she would have loved it,” Joey said.

Now that her creations are brightening up the lives of the residents who received them, Joey has taken a much desired break from quilting. Such a large undertaking hasn’t diminished her love for sewing, though, and she already has several ideas for new projects.

“I’m just trying to figure out what to do next,” she said.