A treasured symbol of ongoing familial love has been passed down
in Janice Ruth Laughlin Krahenbuhl’s family for so many generations
that, as her husband Charles likes to say,
”
It may be part of the Da Vinci Code.
”
A treasured symbol of ongoing familial love has been passed down in Janice Ruth Laughlin Krahenbuhl’s family for so many generations that, as her husband Charles likes to say, “It may be part of the Da Vinci Code.”
Each time this white linen tablecloth is used to celebrate another 50th wedding anniversary, the name and date of the couple is embroidered on the cloth. The white linen tablecloth had 23 holes in it from the wear and tear of time when local seamstresses Barbara Gailey and Marilyn Schlesinger began preparing it for this most current golden anniversary celebration in the Laughlin-Krahenbuhl family.
It’s no wonder, since the white linen has graced the tables of Laughlins at least since 1858, when John and Mary Ann Laughlin were married, and it has been used at every 50th wedding celebration since.
The year that the cloth first graced John and Mary Ann’s table was also the year that the first non-stop stage coach from St. Louis arrived in Los Angeles, and the world’s first dinosaur skeleton was discovered by Victorian fossil hobbyist William Parker Foulke in Haddonfield, New Jersey. Abraham Lincoln had just lost his bid to become Senator, and the Civil War had not yet broken out.
This time around it also needed serious repair, so Gailey and Schlesinger took on the task. Schlesinger, an expert at embroidering and quilting, put a new backing on it as a stabilizer, and worked for many hours sewing a decorative gold backing over that to help protect it.
She rolled it onto a long tube, so that there won’t be future damage from creases made by fold lines, and then she made a cloth bag for future storage that will allow the cloth to breathe properly.
In order to disguise the holes in the cloth, Gailey painstakingly embroidered 23 dragon and butterflies over the holes. Each time she stuck her needle in to make a new hole, she worried that the fragile cloth might not hold up, but by going slowly and gently, she was able to avoid further tearing.
When her work was done, a flight of dragon and butterflies floated across the fabric in brilliant rainbow shades of lavender, pink, red, blue, green, and yellow.
It took 12 hours to embroider Janice’s parents’ names on the quilt (Logan and Ruth Laughlin, 1925-1975), and 17 hours to add Janice and Charles’ full names (Sept. 15, 1956-2006).
“There’s a pig out there with your name on it!” I heard Debbie Waller say last Sunday. Debbie was referring to the story I told last week (July 13) about the Krahenbuhls’ anniversary dream of raising enough money (in lieu of gifts) for one cow (cost: $500) to be sent to a family in one of the most poverty-stricken parts of the world.
As part of the Heifer Project, this cow will be donated to raise the family’s standard of living by helping to feed, clothe, and educate that family. They, in turn, are required to give that cow’s offspring to another family, and they in turn to another, in a never-ending chain that will improve the standard of living for countless people in the future.
Well, the Rev. Dr. Beck, former director of Heifer Project International, just told me that, as of today, they have enough for four heifers! Former Gilroyan activist SuEllen Rowlison will present the check herself. Thanks to all of you who gave so generously.
Please note: There’s a correction to last week’s column: The story of the village which benefited from receiving a water buffalo took place in Nepal, not Peru. Oops – wrong high mountains.
