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Father B was a designer, creator, and stitcher,
and as a teacher and author on the subject of needlepoint. Perhaps better
known throughout the American Needlepoint Guild circle, he was involved
with the stitch-of-the-month in Needlepointers
Magazine. His book, Father
B's Book of Stitches, first
published in 1982, is now in its seventh printing/edition as
Father
B's 21st
Century
Book
of
Stitches
published by Rainbow
Gallery in 2000. The
original book contained less than 100 stitches, both familiar and
original, while the latest edition was enlarged to about 350 stitches.
Many of these are original and not available elsewhere, while some are
very old stitches which needlepointers have forgotten.
Born Robert E. Blackburn, Jr., Father B was a
native of Chicago. He served in World War II as an intelligence analyst
with the 11th Armored Division under General Patton. After his
ordination at age 31 he served as parish priest in three Episcopal
dioceses in the Midwest.
When Father
B retired and moved to Salisbury, NC in 1990 or 1991, he immediately
looked up the local EGA chapter and joined Golden Needles. The first
thing he did was take over our newsletter, which had lost its editor, and
he did that for several years. He also conducted several workshops
for us over the years, and we served as a pilot class for some of the
pieces he designed for Rainbow Gallery. That was fun!
He helped us so
much when we were re-doing our bylaws -- I know, because I was on the
rewrite committee, and he put all that we did in order on his computer.
He is the only one I ever knew who had both a PC and a McIntosh!
Father B offered his services to All Saints
church as an associate in all areas of activity and worship. While
serving at All Saints he celebrated the 40th year of his ordination,
planning a "high church" service, complete with "bells and smells", a new
experience for most of the parishioners.
When he decided
to give up his house and go into assisted living, he gave Golden
Needles all the books in his stitching library. He gave me a huge plastic
bin of DMC floss, and another of Pearl Cotton #3 and #5. These are sorted
and stored in boxes in our library where any member can take what she
needs. A member who was also a close friend of his was given a lot
of his canvas and stretcher bars, which she shared with the club. Many of
his supplies were donated to the church bazaar at All Saints.
At the last when
he was in the nursing home, I would go by after meetings to catch him up
on what was happening. Even when he could no longer talk, he listened
very carefully because he really was interested in what we were doing.
Knowing
him was a real treat. There are not that many men in needlework, so it is
a real pleasure to have had close association with one of them.
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