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What a wonderful story of giving!

Beacon Journal | 08/05/2006 | Grief therapy wraps McNeill family and widower in comfort: “Man, 81, makes 11 quilts using clothes worn by children’s mother
By Jewell Cardwell
As he was working through his own grief, Melchoir Erb stumbled upon a therapy that’s also helping others.
Quilting.
It’s something Geraldine, his wife of seven years who died in 2004, taught him.
He and Geraldine “just did everything together,” the 81-year-old Norton man said. “We cooked, canned, gardened and made quilts.” (Erb’s first wife, Rose, died in 1995, just before their 50th wedding anniversary.)
Patti Kelleher, bereavement specialist and chaplain at the Hospice of the Visiting Nurse Care Center in Copley Township, learned of Erb’s talent when he attended one of the hospice’s grief groups with daughter Martha Cosgrove of Akron.
Erb had lost not only his second wife but also son Mike within a short time.
Around the same time, Kelleher heard about Barbara McNeill, 38, the New Franklin wife and mother of 11 who died in February.
That’s when Kelleher approached Erb with an idea she was neither sure would work nor be embraced.
Turns out it was a match made in heaven.
“I had the idea of taking some of Mrs. McNeill’s clothes and having Melchoir make quilts for her children,” Kelleher said.
“A week later Melchoir came to me and said, `I’d like to do that.’ ”
So, Kelleher phoned the newly widowed Dan McNeill with the proposal.
Putting children’s needs first, he graciously consented, and she and Erb gathered several bags of Barbara’s clothes that the children had picked out.
Two months later Erb had completed the project: 11 quilts (three different sizes) for all 11 children, including Eddy, who was just 2 weeks old when his mother died as she nursed him.

Curiously,the quilt top Erb made for Eddy had a clown face in shades of blue — the exact-same clown design Barbara McNeill had painted the nursery room wall years earlier for their first child.

All the quilts’ backings were fashioned from 4-inch squares cut from her clothes. Eddy’s was lined with fabric from her bathrobe.

Erb cut the fabric and pieced the squares by machine. “The rest I did by hand,” he said.

When Erb and Kelleher delivered the quilts to the McNeill home, they asked each of the children — well, except for Eddy — to tell them a “Mommy story” that spoke to the fabric remnants showcased in the quilts.

“One would say, `Oh, I remember this was one of Mommy’s favorite dresses. I remember when she wore it to… ,’ ” Kelleher said.

Matthew, 19 months old when his mother died, has Noah’s Ark on his special blanket, with fabric from Mommy’s pajamas and another favorite dress on the back.

Andy, who was 4, has one with two Care Bears.

The quilts are as different as the McNeill children, who find such comfort and connection snuggling underneath them.

Coincidentally,twins Stephanie and Philip chose quilts that had the exact same pale yellow backings.

There’s more! This kind gentleman has made other gifts for other grieving people. He is truly a gift!

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