Cape Vincent ‘Chix’ are ‘sew’ patriotic for Honor Flight

The Honor Flight participants boarded a bus Friday in Cape Vincent, stayed overnight in Syracuse and were set to fly to Washington, D.C., this morning. The quilts were given to the participants Friday as they boarded the bus.

Honor Flight Network is a national nonprofit organization comprised of independent hubs working together to achieve the Honor Flight mission: to celebrate America’s veterans by inviting them to share in a day of honor at memorials in our nation’s capital.

While initially focused on America’s World War II veterans, the Honor Flight Network has expanded its mission to include those who served during the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and veterans of any service era who are critically ill.

“Most of us are doing two quilts,” Grant said. “It’s a fairly small group of women that get together year-round to do quilts and we decided we wanted to honor this set of veterans.”

The idea originated when quilt group member Cathy S. Smashe mentioned the Honor Flight trip to the quilting group.

Smashe is also heavily involved in American Legion Post 832, where she is chaplain and treasurer of its auxiliary and also serves as the post’s poppy-sale chairwoman.

“One of the girls mentioned that her husband has been on an Honor Flight and received a quilt,” Smashe said. “One of our members suggested, ‘Why don’t we do that?’ That’s how it came about.”

The spirited quilting group meets on Wednesdays at the Recreation Park to work on quilts and members also do the work in their homes.

“It’s a social event,” Grant said. “We get together, quilt and have lunch. It’s just a bunch of girlfriends having a good time.”

“We sew all day, with a break for lunch,” Smashe said. “That’s about a half hour, sometimes an hour, depending on how much we want to talk.”

“All of us have been quilting for quite a while,” Grant said. “We give them as wedding presents, baby showers, Christmas presents. We obviously keep a lot of them for ourselves. It’s something we really enjoy doing and consider them works of art — like painting a picture.”

The Honor Flight quilts, Smashe said, have a range of sizes. “They’re a little bigger than a lap quilt. There are some that are smaller. They would be good for those in wheelchairs so they don’t get caught in spokes.”

Smashe and Grant said that Legion Post 832 is very active in the community. In recent weeks it’s hosted everything from a soup contest, a macaroni and cheese contest, a chili cook-off to a “hot dog bar” at the legion during the eclipse.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the quilting group created 800 masks for children.

“Some people came in and joined us for that and some people have joined us in making these quilts also,” Smashe said.

Members also make dog and cat beds for the SPCA.

Smashe’s husband, John, is a Son of the American Legion at Post 832. They joined when they moved to Cape Vincent in 2015.

“We retired from Rochester and wanted to move up here,” Cathy said. “We’ve come up here all our lives and just love it here. Everybody thought we were nuts because we weren’t going south.”

Quilt show June 8

The Cape Vincent quilters, in association with the Cape Vincent Arts Council, are planning a quilt show from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. June 8 at the Recreation Park building, 602 S. James St. It will honor the memory of Verna M. Mason, who founded the Cape Vincent quilting group. She died in September 2021 at the age of 95.

“She passed right about the time that COVID hit, so we haven’t had a show since then,” Smashe said. “It’s to showcase the quilters, some of the projects they’ve worked on and we’ll also showcase what we’ve done for the community.”

Anyone who quilts in Cape Vincent is invited to join the show by displaying items that they have made and/or by helping on the day of the show. This is not a judged show. The items are simply displayed to honor the art of quilting.

Veterans and quilters

The Quilting Chix say that the Honor Flight participants, also members of Cape Vincent American Legion Post 832, are all Vietnam veterans.

 Those who were scheduled to go on the Honor Flight trip from the Cape Vincent area:

Larry Andre, Gerald Armani, Scott Aubertine, Andy Binsley, Joe Chavoustie, David Docteur, Paul Docteur, Robert Docteur, Bob Ewing, Brian Hartmuller and Francis Jewels.

Also, Lynn Jinks, Charles Kingsley, Donald LaFlame, Jim Mason, Chuck Mosher, Ron Murray, Donald Perkins, Les Phillipson, Michael Townsend and Charlie Vogt.

An Honor Flight spokesman said Wednesday that Saturday’s flight to Washington, D.C., Mission 20, will include two other individuals from Northern New York: David E. Bulterman and Earl Alberry, both of Watertown.

•  The Quilting Chix and friends who worked on the Cape Vincent project:

Janyth Bonney, Tammy Brass, Sharon Briggs, Barb Brown, Beverly Grant, Donna Grant, Missey Harvey, Jeri Mason, Beth Nutting, Irene Paulis, Ruth Robinson, Pat Schamerhorn, Amy Sebella, Cathy Smashe and Kathy Pierce. There was also an “anonymous quilter.”