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Hobby keeps grandmother in stitches
Prize-winning quilter uses craft to battle Parkinson’s
By Elise Franco
Struthers
Alice Ann FLACK’S hand shakes a bit as she pulls back the corner of her award-winning quilt to point out its tiny, perfectly stitched pattern.
One wouldn’t suspect by looking at any of her quiltings that Flack, 75, of Struthers, has Parkinson’s disease.
Her most recent quilt, an intricately patterned whole cloth, was named Best of Show in the arts and crafts department at the 2011 Canfield Fair. The quilt took Flack one year to complete.
“I was so surprised that I won,” she said. “I thought, ‘Praise the Lord, it’s done,’ when I finished. ... Sometimes I’m just happy to get a stitch in, no matter if it’s the right size.”
Flack, a lifelong Struthers resident, learned to quilt as a child, though she said she didn’t start doing it seriously until she was about 40.
In her lifetime, Flack has made 54 bed-sized quilts and dozens more smaller quilts, wall-hangings and table cloths.
She also won Best of Show at the 2002 Canfield Fair and the Hostess Award in 1992
Flack was diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 1997 but said she showed early signs two years before that. She said the disease makes quilting more difficult, but quitting never crossed her mind.
“I will keep quilting as long as I can, or until I die,” she quipped.
Flack said she quilts whenever she is able. Some days the shaking is mild, and others it’s nearly uncontrollable.
“When I’m quilting I think ‘OK, I can finish this row in an hour,’ but if the shaking starts up, it could be days,” she said. “Some mornings I get up early and go down to quilt for a while. Sometimes I can do it all day and sometimes not at all.”
June Stober, 73, of Struthers, said she’s known Flack since high school and was always impressed with her friend’s drive to continue with her passion.
“It’s therapeutic,” she said. “To be able to continue [quilting] makes her feel there are still worthwhile things to do.”
But Flack doesn’t just quilt for herself, she does it for her family, too.
Her goal is to make each of her seven grandchildren a quilt that she’ll give to them on their wedding days. She has about four made already and the rest in the works.
“I’ve made quilts for births, weddings, anniversaries, but I really wanted to do it for my grandchildren,” she said. “They were very small when I was diagnosed, so I started on them then.”
Stober said she considers Flack a strong, generous woman.
“She does the best she can at the stage she’s in. She really tests herself,” Stober said. “I just think she’s a strong woman without really showing it. You don’t think about it until you know what she’s gone through.”
Stober said watching Flack be diagnosed and adjust to living with Parkinson’s puts life into perspective.
“It’s something for you to see, and then realize you can face whatever could be ahead for yourself and your own family,” she said.