By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
January 6, 2004

STRUBLE - Women from St. Joseph Parish in Struble prepared quilts to donate to the abuse center in Plymouth County.

In the spring of 2004, Mary K. Lane, a St. Joseph parishioner, received a call from Rhonda Ruhland. Rhonda and her sisters were cleaning out their mother's sewing room and as people in the Struble area know, their mother, the former Ruth Ruhland, had been an avid quilter.

Rhonda Ruhland asked Lane if she would be willing to assemble quilt blocks into a quilt top. Lane replied that she would, not knowing how many quilt blocks there were.

Ruth Ruhland had done quilts by hand. When her daughters quilt, they do machine quilting or tie quilting.

"My sisters and I have done a couple of quilts," said Rhonda Ruhland. "We are continuing it, but not to the extent that she did it."

Ruth had received the quilt blocks from John Koopman of Sioux Center whose mother was also an avid quilter and donated quilts to the needy. Helen Koopman passed away in October of 2000.

The Ruhland sisters explained to Lane that their mother had already made about a dozen quilts, given to the needy, from the acquired quilt blocks before she passed away. According to Lane, John Koopman has heard of their work and is pleased that they have carried on a tradition that his mother believed in.

"I think it is a continuation of the legacies of Helen Koopman," said Rhonda Ruhland. "She started such a nice tradition of doing charity quilts. Mom had continued and done 12 or 13 of them out of the material that was given to her. When she passed away, we still had all this material left. It is a nice tradition and the need you see around the community is always there. Hopefully it is something that we can continue."

In July of 2004, Lane was able to finish putting the blocks together and produced six quilt tops. On a Sunday in September, she went to the Ruhland farm where the sisters had gathered and the tops were pinned to the backing with batting in between.

The next step was tying the quilts that was completed on a Sunday afternoon at the Struble Parish Hall with members of the Struble Rosary Society giving their time. They decided that afternoon which quilt would be displayed at the Plymouth County Historical Museum Quilt Show. The quilts were also used to decorate St. Joseph's Church at Thanksgiving.

The six quilts were given to the abuse center so that a couple of families could have bedding. Four of the quilts were double bed size and two were a little smaller.

"It was an effort by several people working together doing a good job and providing this for people who really need it," said Lane.

The ladies who worked on the quilt effort from St. Joseph Parish in Struble include Lorraine Ruden, Ann Lill, Rose Ruhland, Rhonda Ruhland, Jona Ruhland, Janet Steen, Doris Beitelspacher and Mary K. Lane.

"It is cold weather, and there are needy people at this time of year," said Lane. "It is really sad when you hear some of these stories. It is nice to be able to help them out. We've been given so many things in our life. This is a way of giving back."