Quilt #48: Grandpa Dave

The week that Philip was introduced as the Head Football Coach at the University of Tulsa back in December of 2014 was quite a whirlwind!

We had about 5 days of press conferences, meetings, events, and house hunting before everyone started closing shop for the Christmas holidays.

We met many, many kind and welcoming people!

Although my head was spinning and I worried that I would never memorize everyone’s name and who went with whom, one couple was especially easy for me to remember: Dave and Leslie Lawson.

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Dave was incredibly warm and friendly, Leslie was a bewitching bundle of energy and charm, and their last name just happened to be the same as my mom’s maiden name.

Deep into our 6th season here, I can now confess that Dave and Leslie were the only couple I was confident enough to call be their names for those first few weeks in Tulsa; I was terrified that I would blunder, get something wrong, and completely embarrass myself as well as Coach.

Fast forward to 2020, and the Lawson-Dooley family has become quite special to me!

Together we will #ENDALZ

I could not have guessed it that December night in 2014, but Dave was showing signs of dementia and would be, or possible already had been, diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

As Dave continued to progress into the final stages of ALZ, a universally fatal brain disease, I got to know Leslie better through her dedication to the Alzheimer’s Association and her support of Tulsa Football.

From the time she found out that Coach wanted to host an annual Alzheimer’s Awareness Football Game, she offered fun, creative ways to help us make it a big success.

Leslie was also a great encouragement to me when I hosted the 2016 AWARE Tulsa Ladies’ Luncheon.

I was completely correct when I met her…she is a brilliant light of spunk and savvy and heart and love!

I have also had the opportunity to get to know Leslie and Dave’s daughter, Natalie, and Natalie’s daughter, Catherine. These incredible ladies are three generations of smart, strong, dynamic women changing the world!

I am blessed by their friendship and I value the work we are able to do together as we fight for an end to ALZ.

Wrapping Up in Love

Dave passed away from Alzheimer’s disease on February 12, 2019.

Eight months earlier, Leslie and I spoke about my t-shirt quilts, also known as my Storytelling Tees.

I told her then that I would be honored to make a TU quilt for her, and when we visited at her house after Dave’s funeral, we talked about how much Dave loved the University of Tulsa and how we would preserve his favorite TU events in that quilt.

Several months passed before it popped up in conversation again, this time at a chance meeting in the post office.

I reminded Leslie that I would still love to make her quilt with Dave’s t-shirts. She told me that she was putting her granddaughter, our sweet Catherine, in charge of selecting which shirts would be used.

If ever there was a go-getter in the world, Catherine is that person!

Amidst high school life, being captain of her golf team, chairing the ALZ² youth initiative in Tulsa, taking a full load of AP classes, exploring her passion for photography, and serving in countless additional ways, Catherine found time to sort through her Grandpa’s TU t-shirts.

She curated one phenomenal collection!

The 17 tees that she selected include Final Four and Sweet 16 basketball appearances, football bowl games, golf, spirit squad, homecomings, alumni association, youth fan club, memorials, and more.

She also chose rather large shirts, and as I hated to cut off any of the incredible graphics, I paired the t-shirt panels with oversized log cabin blocks in blues, old gold, and neutral whites.

I used the same dozen or so patterns and prints in each log cabin so they wouldn’t feel overwhelming, but I changed up the order of the fabrics to keep it interesting.

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I especially love the old gold “Varsity” fabric by Riley Blake Designs that I used for the center of each log cabin block, a half-sash along the left side and base of the quilt blocks, and the backing for the quilt.

I used my favorite hurricane motif to quilt the topper, batting, and backing together.

This is the largest Storytelling Tee® I’ve made so far, and it just might be my favorite.

I can’t imagine the weight of grief that Leslie experienced in those days after Dave’s death.

I admire her very much and applaud her continued determination to create a world without Alzheimer’s disease.

I am thrilled to give their family this token of Dave’s legacy to enjoy, a way to wrap his love around them and remember wonderful times together!

All masked up it might be difficult to see our huge smiles at finally getting to see one another since the pandemic began, but trust me, they are there!

With love and hugs,

Ashli