Much like life, quilting a patchwork task

Edna Mack of Comer celebrated her 77th birthday March 28.

"I grew up here," Mack said recently at the Madison County Senior Center where she was sewing on a quilt. "Dan Porterfield used to be a big farmer. If you know where Holly Creek Baptist Church is, he owned all that land up in that way. I was born in Jackson County, but I was raised up on his place."

Mack's parents, Ed and Irene Sims, once were sharecroppers on Porterfield's farm. Both are buried in the cemetery at Holly Creek Baptist Church.

"There were 14 of us in all. My momma had four sets of twins - two sets before me and two sets after me. I have three sisters still alive, and all my brothers are dead," she said.

Mack said she has taken care of children most of her life, as her mother raised not only her kids but others as well.

"My brother's wife died, and we took his children to raise," she said. "My sister died and my momma had to take care of her children, so I have been working and taking care of children all my life."

Quilting is also something she grew up doing, as she and her mother made many quilts.

As a little girl, Mack was devoted to prayer.

"It seems like the Lord has always been with me," she said, explaining she would go out of sight from her home and pray every morning in secret.

"I don't know why I didn't want anybody seeing me, but I did," she said.

Now in her retirement years, Mack will travel to the senior center and work on quilts, which the center sells to raise money.

"I volunteer my time to make the quilts," she said as she sat before the quilting frame. "You'd be surprised at how many hours I've got with this."

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