1 week Ago By The Daily Republic, Mitchell, S.D.
Apr. 11—MITCHELL — Most weekday mornings at the James Valley Community Center in Mitchell, a small group of ladies gathers around, threads their needles and sets about to work on making quilts. It's a way for them to get out of the house, share some time with friends and flex their creative muscles with the skills they've honed over the years.
As part of that activity, the group often finds materials and even incomplete quilts to work on at thrift shops or other outlets. Not long ago, one of those scavenging runs turned up something unusual. "Our members sometimes go to estate sales or something, and they buy unfinished quilts for our quilt ladies to work on in their time, and then usually we sell them for fundraisers," said Pam VanOverschelde, with the James Valley Community Center.
"But this one says 'Nina Rust.' So, you know, my brain keeps turning. And I thought, you know, this has got to mean something.
So I Googled 'Nina Rust.'" What VanOverschelde uncovered led to a reunion of sorts Wednesday afternoon, as members of the family of Nina Rust, who was 100 years old when she began the quilt for her daughter in 1981, arrived at the James Valley Community Center to reconnect with the heirloom that somehow went missing after Rust's death in 1993. Roger Rust, Nina's grandson, a resident of Spencer, Nebraska, drove up to Mitchell on Wednesday with his wife, Leslie, to reclaim the quilt.
"It's been just unbelievable," Leslie Rust told the Mitchell Republic. "Because, first of all, they found us. And second of all, it really is grandma's quilt.
" The crew at the James Valley Community Center first came into contact with the mystery quilt a few years ago when Kathy Northrup found it for sale at a local thrift outlet. She had picked up old, unfinished quilts before, and at first glance this one did not seem particularly unique. The quality of the unfinished quilt stood out on closer inspection, however.
"It was only a few dollars, and I can't remember what it was, but I'm not going to let one of those go by. It was hand done. The whole thing was hand-pieced, and I had it in my cupboard for two, three, maybe four years, just waiting to do something," Northrup said.
"I was thinking about just putting it together and giving it away, and I got thinking — I can't do that to that handmade thing. So I brought it down here. I knew the ladies would do a good job with it.
" The quality handiwork of the quilt stood out, but so did writing inscribed on two of the corners of the quilt. One read, "Made for Clara by me 1981," while another read, "Nina Rust 1881 1981." As the quilting crew at the center prepared to finish the quilt, VanOvershelde was researching any information she could find on who Nina Rust was.
Fortunately, the name was unique enough to stand out in a Google search, and VanOverschelde was directed to genealogy and obituary websites. She cross-referenced different sources and found the Nina Rust she was looking for. She was born in a sod house in 1881 in Holt County, Nebraska and died in 1993 in Roseburg, Oregon at the age of 111.
She had 12 children, 36 grandchildren, 86 great-grandchildren and five great-great-great grandchildren at the time of her death. One of her children was Clara, who died in 2012. Her obituary, which indicated that she was believed to be Oregon's oldest resident at the time of her death, revealed a life that seemed like it was just getting started when she turned 100, around the time she would have started the quilt.
"She lived to be 111. When she turned 99, she rode an elephant. She took her first plane trip at 100.
She rode a motorcycle at 106. You know, after I found this obituary, curiosity got me," VanOverschelde said. She traced a branch of the family to Spencer, Nebraska, where she found a business with the family name.
A little more work found her an address, and she wrote a letter explaining that she believed they had found a quilt with a connection to their family. Her work had paid off — the Rusts she contacted were, indeed, connected to Nina. "Yep, it was them.
So I sent them a letter and said, 'Hey, we think we have your grandma's quilt here, and we'll give it back to you. The ladies are working on it if you want it,'" VanOverschelde said. "And eventually they called back and said, 'Yeah, we want that.
'" In a side room at the JVCC, a small group of ladies got to work finishing the quilt. Among those involved in the project were Ruby Pattison, Teresa Matson and Norma Fristad. The group has extensive experience when it comes to quilts, and even for quilters of their expertise, the Rust quilt stood out.
"Just by the material that's in it, and you could tell it all was hand-stitched," Matson said. "I mean, she did a beautiful job. I can't imagine how long it took her to sew all these little squares together in that pattern.
" The quilt measures 103 inches by 78 inches, known as a large double quilt, and took some time to complete, with different quilters handling a portion of the work. They work much as Rust would have years ago, using no machinery and doing the work by hand. They all agree the original craftsmanship and color stand out for a quilt started 44 years ago.
As they worked to complete the quilt, VanOverschelde was still in the midst of her research into the family. They all wondered about the quilt and its unique inscriptions, and pondered how the quilt had gone from Rust's possession to the community center. Some of them thought that the unfinished quilt may have been accidentally discarded when Rust entered a nursing home — at age 109.
They all agreed that even precious family treasures can go missing over a life of moves and adventures, and it appeared that this quilt had done just that. But then one day, VanOverschelde broke the good news that she had found the family connection she was looking for. "When she came in, she was so excited — I found it! I found it!," Matson said.
"And we're like, really?" When Roger and Leslie Rust walked into the community center Wednesday afternoon, it was a reunion decades in the making. Greetings were exchanged with staff and members at the center before everyone made their way to another side room where the quilt was on display front and center. Everyone was soon gathered around the quilt, with the Rusts all smiles and admittedly somewhat in disbelief that a group of strangers would go through the trouble of not only finishing the quilt, but researching their family to try and bring it home to them.
"We were really surprised. Very surprised. We could hardly wait to see it, and it's certainly been worth it," Leslie Rust said.
Roger Rust, 71, said the whole affair brought back memories of his grandmother, whose children spread out over the years. His aunt Clara, for whom Nina had started the quilt back in 1981, lived in Hot Springs in later life and another aunt had lived in Winner, but nobody is exactly sure how the quilt ended up on a thrift store shelf in Mitchell. He recalled his grandmother as a well-rounded woman who embraced her hobbies and crafts.
"She wasn't afraid to do anything. She was highly mobile. And even when we saw her the last time, she was still getting around good.
She was already past 100," Roger Rust recalled. "She was still crocheting and she'd make doilies." Nina Rust's obituary confirms she led a unique life.
In addition to her later-life elephant and motorcycle riding, she was featured in the book One Hundred Over 100 by Jim Heynen and her adventures earned her invitations to appear on "Good Morning America" and "The Tonight Show," starring Johnny Carson, though she declined both because of poor hearing. Those on hand Wednesday agreed that even Nina's incomplete projects were extraordinary. Her unfinished quilt from 1981 ended up bringing together a group of quilters from Mitchell and her extended family to form new friendships.
VanOverschelde said that the center is always looking to welcome new quilters to the fold. Some of the ladies who quilt at the center also regularly quilt and sew at local churches, donating their creations to relief organizations even when they're not working on fundraiser quilts for the center. It's a hobby that can be enjoyed both for the creative outlet and as a benefit for others, she said.
In this case, it turned out to be a way to reunite a family with a long lost family treasure. It was exciting to finally meet the Rust family in person, VanOverschelde said. Thanks to some dedicated research and the sewing skills of the James Valley Community Center quilting ladies, the names labeled on the quilt are no longer a mystery to be solved, but a cherished connection to new friends.
"It was fantastic. I read so much about them, and it became, for a while, it was kind of like my family, because that's all I've thought about," VanOverschelde said..
