Wednesday, July 10, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
5
Antique quilt at Library has a rich history
By Sue Stafford
Correspondent
Most handmade quilts
have a story to tell. The story
might relate to the maker(s)
of the quilt, the fabrics used,
for whom the quilt was made,
where it came from, or how
it got to its current place of
residence.
On Quilt Show Saturday,
July 13, in the Sisters Library
Community Room, a very
special quilt over 100 years
old will be displayed by
the Three Sisters Historical
Society and the quilt9s owner,
Kris Kristovich, the great-
grandson of the quilt9s cre-
ator, Franz Vanecek (later
known as Frank Wanecek).
Kris and his wife, Penny,
started Sisters Drug in 1974.
Franz was born July 27,
1857 in the small Bohemian
(Czechoslovakian) town of
Vonsovec, district of Ledev,
in the province of Cechy.
Vonsovec was a small village
of 26 homes and 176 resi-
dents, across the border from
Vienna, Austria.
Vanecek9s parents and
grandparents were all resi-
dents of Bohemia. His grand-
father, Wenzel, worked as
a weaver. At the age of 13,
during Lent season of 1871,
Franz was sent to Latz,
Austria (outside Vienna) to
start his apprenticeship as a
tailor, an occupation that car-
ried down through the gen-
erations. Latz was a two-to-
three-day journey from his
home, and he went alone.
His apprenticeship, last-
ing four years, involved
working for Franz Neubauer
in his Neubauer9s Tailoring
and Dressmaking shop. On
April 11, 1875, having ful-
filled all the requirements,
Franz was awarded the
Certificate of Apprenticeship
from the Guild of Tailors of
the Royal House of Haupf
& Residenstadt of Wien
(Vienna), Austria.
Around 1882, Franz left
Europe with his pregnant wife
for a new life in America,
arriving in New York City
where both his wife and
their baby died. After remar-
rying, Franz left New York
in 1888 for La Crosse, WI,
where he worked as a tailor.
It isn9t known when or how
they ended up in Spokane,
Washington where Franz had
a tailor shop.
Franz made quilts for his
customers as a side business
to his tailoring. Two of his
quilts still reside within the
family. Kris9s aunt has one of
them and Kris has the other.
Appropriately, the back-
ground field of the quilt is
made of dark fabrics that
were originally salesmen9s
samples received by Franz in
his tailor shop. The embroi-
dery on the quilt was all done
on a machine brought from
Czechoslovakia when Franz
emigrated to America. The
quilt was featured on the front
of a quilting magazine about
30 years ago. For its age, the
quilt is in excellent condition.
Kristovich will be happy
to share his stories of how the
family all ended up in Butte,
Montana, when Franz9s
son Frank moved there and
opened a tailor shop. Kris9s
father, also Frank, was born
in Butte as was Kris (whose
given name is Frank). On
a visit back to Butte a num-
ber of years ago, Kris went
into Shirley9s Clothing Shop
where he used to buy his
school clothes and the man
working there remembered
Frank the Tailor. He espe-
cially remembered Frank9s
lunch that he ate every day
- raw hamburger, Limburger
cheese, and onions on rye
bread, washed down with a
pint of beer.
That9s a lot of stories
packed into one quilt.
PHOTO PROVIDED
A century-old quilt owned by Kris Kristovich will be on display at Sisters
Library during the Quilt Show.
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