THE TOBACCO SACK QUILT

THE TOBACCO SACK QUILT

MADE FOR KENNETH STANDIFER

BY HIS GRANDMOTHER, ALLIE STANDIFER COPE

ABOUT 1939 OR 1940

When Ken was a boy in Ada, Oklahoma, his Dad worked for the Frisco Railroad.  Ken collected Country Gentleman tobacco sacks.  His grandmother told him that if he could collect enough sacks, she would make him a quilt.  His Dad asked the railroad men to save their tobacco sacks for Ken.  When they had a bundle of sacks they would let Ken’s Dad know.  Arrangements would be made for the little boy to stand by the tracks and wait for a specific train to pass.  A man would toss the bundle to him as the train passed.

He collected enough sacks to satisfy his grandmother.  She took each sack apart at the side seams.  She washed them and bleached half of them and dyed the other half red.  She made this quilt and drew the “Country Gentleman” in he center.

Country Gentleman Tobacco

, Liggett Myers Tobacco Company,

Durham, N.C. North Carolina Collection Gallery.