Cambria funeral home receives handmade gift of love

When a group of people gathered Wednesday afternoon at the Kratz-Smedema Funeral Home in Cambria, none of them had an inkling of the tragedy that would happen less than seven hours later – an explosion late Wednesday night at Didion Milling, for which the death toll, as of Friday afternoon, stands at three.

They had a gift to present, and Funeral Director Lori McConochie was only too touched to receive it.

It’s called a passage quilt.

Becky Gutzman of Cambria said a group of women from all over Wisconsin, called the Weekend Friends, worked together to assemble the quilt.

About a dozen pairs of hands worked on the quilt, in one weekend afternoon in Waupaca.

It was Gutzman’s idea to make the quilt for the Kratz-Smedema Funeral Home, and she chose the color scheme – earth tones, some red and some aqua – and 38 to 40 different fabric prints incorporated into the quilt.

Gutzman also chose the pattern. It’s called “Homeward Bound.”

That name, she said, ties in with the quilt’s purpose – to offer dignified, respectful covering for a recently-deceased person, as he or she is transported from the place of death.

There was no indication, as of Friday afternoon, as to whether the passage quilt was utilized – or whether one of the victims of the Didion explosion might have been among the first to be honored with it.

One thing that makes a passage quilt different from other quilts, Gutzman said, is its size. It’s larger than a twin-size quilt, but smaller than a full- or queen-size quilt, so that it will cover the body without entangling in the wheels of the cart used to move it.

McConochie said she’s seen Passage Quilts before, but the funeral home has never had one of its own – until now.

The families of decedents do not keep the quilt. It’s used over and over again.

McConochie noted that not all hospitals or hospices have a passage quilt, and more people are dying at home under the care of home hospice workers – so it’s helpful for the funeral home to have a passage quilt to bring when they’re picking up someone who died.

One of the quilters, Cathy Campbell of Jackson, said a passage quilt was used for her father-in-law when he died in a Milwaukee hospice.

The hospice actually had two passage quilts, she said – one in a patriotic motif for veterans, and one that’s suitable for anyone.

Cambria Village President Glen Williams said there’s a patriotic passage quilt at the Wisconsin Veterans’ Home in King, and people often line up to salute as a recently-deceased resident leaves the home, covered with the quilt, for the last time.

McConochie said the quilt does not directly touch the body, which is carefully prepared for transport.

But it adds a personal touch of respect and dignity, and it invites people who present at the place of death to pause quietly as the person is moved to the funeral home or other destination.

At a hospice, McConochie said, she witnessed the effect of the quilt on the survivors who observed the decedent’s transport.

“Sometimes,” she said, “they’ll sing their way out.”