In 1979, Dorothy Lau Hebner attended Oakland University in Rochester Hills, Michigan to complete her Bachelor of Science degree in education. As part of the curriculum, she student taught kindergarten students under the guidance of her mentor, Mrs. Joyce Pancost. It was a positive experience both for Dorothy and for the students. Before Dorothy left at the end of the student training period, the parents presented Dorothy with a baby quilt as a thank you that celebrated the impending birth of Dorothy’s first child.

The children each made a quilt square by drawing with a crayon on a piece of cotton fabric. The drawings were autographed with their names and the drawings including hearts, suns, animals, letters, and smily faces. Because there were more squares than could be accommodated by a normal sized baby quilt, the parent who made the quilt made a double sided quilt, with decorated squares on both sides.

 

Side 1

 

Side 2

The names on the quilt are as follows:
Side 1
Row 1: Rodney Dana (Warm) Andrew (Smile) Kelly (I love you_
Row 2: Adam, Jay, Kim, Jill
Row 3: Jenna, Brad (shapes), Kelli, Brian Kelly
Row 4: Mike, Matile Kieth, Bryan L, Cathy
Row 5: Keith, Jeannine, Kristina, Braid ?

Side 2
Row 1: Leslie, Heidi, Caroline, Mike (I Levu)
Row 2: Nicole Reisen, Jessica (cat), Ray, Andy
Row 3: Stacey, Jeff, Brian K, Jessica W
Row 4: Jasen, Briah ?, Michael, Zachery (sun)
Row 5: Dana Grant, Jeremy, Hans, Margaret

 

Name chart

The event was documented in the Monday, April 30, 1979 Royal Oak, Michigan Daily Tribune:
Titled A Gift for the Teacher, the reporter wrote: “Mrs. Dorothy Hebner, a student teacher at Jane Addams Elementary School in Royal Oak, received a quilt from her kindergarten class on her last day at school. Mrs. Hebner, who is expecting, listens to Jason Schultz and Stacey Beltz explain how they drew pictures on fabrics, sewn together by a pupil’s mother. Mrs. Hebner taught in Mrs. Joyce Pancost’s class. (Tribune Photo)”

 

Article from The Daily Tribune, Royal Oak, Michigan, Monday, April 30, 1979.