[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 64 (Friday, May 20, 1994)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: May 20, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]

 
                          HONORING LONA BOGGS

                                 ______


                          HON. STENY H. HOYER

                              of maryland

                    in the house of representatives

                          Friday, May 20, 1994

  Mr. HOYER. Mr. Speaker, I rise today and address this House to 
recognize Mrs. Lona Boggs, a grand American, for her commitment to her 
family, her community, and her country.
  Mrs. Boggs retired some years ago after a long career as a farm wife/
homemaker and then out of necessity began a career with and retired 
from the Charles County Board of Education. She turned 80 in January of 
this year and is still going strong as a homemaker. Mrs. Boggs is a 
founding member of the United Methodist Church in LaPlata. She enjoys 
gardening and quilting, which is why I want to bring this lady to your 
attention. She recently won the grand prize at the Clark Senior Center 
in LaPlata for her entry in the Maryland seniors art competition. Her 
art is a beautiful hand made quilt with a lonestar pattern. Her work 
will be displayed in Annapolis on July 8 along with other winners of 
competitions held around our State.
  I congratulate Mrs. Boggs and ask now that the following article be 
included in the Record.

             [From the Maryland Independence, May 18, 1994]

     A Senior Stitch: LaPlata 80-Year-Old Wins Seniors' Art Contest

                      (By Debra Zimmerman Murphey)

       Lona Boggs is having her 15 minutes of Andy Warhol-
     predicted fame. And she is 80 years old.
       Recently, at a well-attended gathering at the Richard R. 
     Clark Senior Center, Boggs joined the ranks of other county 
     seniors who have been singled out for a prestigious award: 
     the Best in Show winner in a state-sponsored art contest held 
     yearly in each Maryland county and in Baltimore City.
       ``I called my children,'' Boggs says almost sheepishly, 
     ``and told them I was a celebrity.''
       And as the now-deceased pop artist Warhol said years ago 
     about everyone experiencing fame at some point in their 
     lives, Boggs' moment in the spotlight has come.
       Boggs, who lives in LaPlata, decided this year to enter the 
     contest. She submitted her now revered ``lonestar'' patterned 
     quilt in the competition, which is part of a statewide effort 
     to improve the quality of seniors' lives and focus on their 
     accomplishments. For the past three years, Charles County 
     residents have often entered intricate woodcarvings and 
     contemporary paintings to earn that top award.
       Boggs' choice to enter the contest came months ago after 
     she dropped by the Clark center to show its staff the multi-
     colored quilt she had worked on from April 1993 to January of 
     this year. As a result of that visit, the employees 
     encouraged her to enter the quilt, explaining that this was 
     the first year quilts were being considered as art. ``I 
     didn't think it was hard quilt this,'' Boggs explains. ``A 
     lot of people will work on a quilt for two to three years.''
       But then Tuesday, May 3, came around, and Boggs sat in an 
     all-purpose room at the Clark center for the much-awaited 
     announcement of who had won in the four separate categories 
     (woodcarving, works on paper, works on canvas and quilting) 
     and, lastly, for the Best in Show.
       ``I said, `Not me,'' Boggs recalls, her hand moving to her 
     chest the way it had that day after she claimed the No. 1 
     spot. ``I was really shocked.
       First-place winners in the divisions were Robert Hale, 
     wood-carving; John Neubauer, works on paper; Cecile 
     Stotesbury, works on canvas; and Boggs for quilting.
       Days later, while sitting in a chair where she often works 
     on her quilts, Boggs thinks back to her first taste of 
     locking thread and needle with material. ``I was raised in 
     West Virginia and we always had quilts, but they were made 
     for warmth. Our beds were covered with quilts my mother made. 
     . . . The women would get together and have quilting bees. 
     They would go from neighbor's house to neighbor's house and 
     quilt all day.''
       She adds: ``As a girl, I had done a little quilting, but 
     then I got married and had children and didn't have the 
     time.''
       More than a half of a century later, Boggs has kept that 
     connection to family as part of her quilting, a hobby she 
     pursued after retiring in 1980 from the board of education. 
     Today, she is working on her 13th quilt (for a grandchild), 
     with others--with the exception of the prize quilt--having 
     gone to her children and grandchildren. Boggs says she is not 
     interested in the hefty, more-than-$1,000 prices her quilts 
     could bring.
       Kneeling down, Boggs traces her hands across the crisp 
     cloth, and the precise stitching, to explain the work that 
     went into the quilt. The more than 300 pieces are sewn 
     together, each angled corner becoming part of the cover. 
     Another quilt, the one Boggs works on now, is called applique 
     (the pieces are sewn onto a piece of cloth and their edges 
     mask the stitches), and Boggs uses it to explain the way her 
     quilting is exacted.
       On nights, when she was working on the winning quilt, she 
     would spend hours sewing--but never with the thought of 
     winning any award. ``I kind of thought I might win for the 
     quilts (category),'' she admits reluctantly. ``But not 
     overall. In my life, in terms of winning, I have never had 
     anything that compares to this.''
       She pauses, then smiles and says: ``Just being proud of the 
     quilt means the most.''
       But Boggs is not only interested in quilting. A widow, she 
     travels extensively and has visited most of the United States 
     as well as England and several Scandanavian countries. Her 
     favorite remains picturesque Wales.
       Her other activities include vegetable gardening, a weekly 
     ceramics class she takes at the senior center, membership in 
     the 2-N-1 seniors' organization and the Patchworkers' Quilt 
     Club, church activities, housework, visiting with friends and 
     shopping at the mall.
       Boggs is upfront about her husband's death 17 years ago, 
     explaining that several years after he suffered a stroke when 
     he was 56, the family sold their 120-acre farm in St. Mary's 
     County and later settled in La Plata. ``The doctor talked to 
     me and said, `You just can't depend on your children. They 
     have their lives and you have to live yours,''' she 
     remembers.
       So, Boggs continued working and retired when she was 65. 
     Although she has journeyed beyond the county's borders, it is 
     Charles County that has earned her devotion. ``My family 
     moved from West Virginia to Southern Maryland in 1940. We 
     settled in St. Mary's County for one year and then moved to 
     Charles County and I lived there until 1950, when we bought 
     the farm and moved to St. Mary's County,'' Boggs says.
       In 1968, Boggs and her husband moved back to Charles County 
     and made La Plata their home. ``I like this area because I 
     like the people,'' she says. She adds that La Plata's small-
     town environment, family members who have stayed in Charles 
     County, and her long-time affiliation with a county-based 
     Methodist church are the prevailing reasons for her staying 
     here.
       Boggs' honors for earning the award include a luncheon in 
     July for all the Best in Show winners and a weekend getaway. 
     But it is the joy she gets from looking at the swirl of 
     peach, dark blue, mauve, medium blue and green bundle of 
     cloth that has meant the most. ``I believe it's the prettiest 
     quilt I've made,'' she says before adding that she will keep 
     this one.
       ``Quilting is relaxing. It's peaceful to sit down with 
     something in my hands to work on,'' says Boggs. ``It's 
     something that you create and it's an art that has been 
     forgotten for so long. . . . I don't think about selling 
     them. I just want my children to have something that I 
     made.''

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