ELKHART, Ind. (AP) - On Sept. 20, 2013, Sheri Bradway had to start a journey no one wants to take.
Her oldest son, Rod, a police officer in Indianapolis, was killed in the line of duty.
In her sorrow, she found solace in the rhythmic whirring of her sewing machine and found healing through quilting.
“You have to grieve on your own time frame,” she told The Elkhart Truth (https://bit.ly/1E0hGwU ). “And it was during that time I made Rod’s quilt. That was where my tears went. That was how I could cope.”
She also found meaning in a quote a friend shared: “Grief never ends, but it changes. It is a passage, not a place to stay. Grief is not a sign of weakness, nor a lack of faith. It is the price of love.”
A year and half later, Rod’s quilt is complete but his mother is still coping with the price of her love for him. She is using her craft to bring others through the passage of grief with her.
After going to National Police Week in Washington D.C. last year, Bradway, her husband, Tom, and son Chip got the idea to honor Rod and his brothers in blue by creating “A Quilt for Mother’s Tears,” a nonprofit dedicated to making a 46-inch by 60-inch quilt for as many families of slain law enforcement officers as possible.
Bradway spends many hours in her basement quilting room hunched over her sewing machine. The machine whirrs as a needle pushes thread through red, white and blue fabric. Scissors snick as extra thread is trimmed away. Surrounding her are stacks of fabric bolts, extra-large spools of thread, and drawers and shelves filled with supplies and the tools she needs to keep making quilts and heal.
“Quilting has always been kind of therapy. It is a relaxing process for me,” Bradway said. “People asked me how long it took to do Rod’s quilt. I can’t tell you hours. I can’t tell you the amount of tears. But to me it was healing.”
Each quilt is personalized with the officer’s name, initials of the department served and the “EOW date” for their “end of watch.” The quilt also includes a replica of the shoulder patch worn by members of the department.
The organization has been formalized into 501(c)(3) nonprofit status through the donated work of an attorney in Fishers.
Originally Bradway had help from people in her local quilting group, but now she’s looking for people in all 50 states to help with her mission.
Sadly, it’s a mission without an end.
“We have 128 quilts done for officers in 2014 and we already have 38 that are in the process of being completed for 2015,” Bradway said. “Unfortunately, it is an ongoing process. It’s not going to stop overnight the way society is.”
The quilts have been presented at National Police Week, which this year is May 10-16.
“When (Rod) died we gained a large family. They stand behind each other in everything. So we’ve adopted that (family) and this is our way of helping mothers, helping other officers,” Bradway said. “They are a unique family and I just want to honor Rod’s memory by remembering (each) family.”
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Information from: The Elkhart Truth, https://www.elkharttruth.com
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