Memory quilt comforts sick man

Tom Marshello holds his memory quilt. photo provided Not one eye was dry.

The room was full and "all 14 people were crying," said Pam Kipper. Their tears were not purely out of sadness or mourning for a friend who is facing a terminal illness. They showed how moved his friends were by the heartfelt present that Tom Marshello had just received.

He had just been given a quilt made from his memories: Sixty pictures on a quilt that held a piece of his heart.

Kipper, a Sisters resident, started the quilt after meeting Marshello in April.

Kipper's husband Eric had been friends with Marshello since the fifth grade, but this was her first meeting.

They were visiting Marshello because he had just finished surgery to remove a fast-acting brain tumor.

"I asked him how he felt, and we had a long, deep conversation," Kipper said.

They became fast friends. The idea of the quilt came quickly.

"We were driving from his house when I got the idea," she said. "I didn't even know what I was going to do. I had to ask my mom to help me start the quilt.

"My mom and I finished the quilt in two weeks," Kipper said. "With help from Marshello's brother Darren, his mother and sister, my brother in-law and my husband, we picked 60 pictures to include on the quilt."

Some pictures were from Tom's childhood with his brother, sister and parents. There was a picture of his parents' wedding and current pictures from his battle with cancer. There were pictures with "the four brothers," Eric Kipper, Darren Kipper, Joe Marshello and Tom Marshello -- four friends who spent summers together since elementary school.

There were pictures from in front of Marshello's home in Mt. Hood.

They didn't discard any pictures because they didn't have room.

"I just made the quilt bigger." Kipper said. "You want everything to be perfect, at least I did."

She made the quilt by scanning in each photo onto her computer and then she printed it onto fabric. From there she stitched the fabric together to make the quilt.

"Eric helped me pick out the fabric, a Hawaiian print, because Tom loves to wear Hawaiian shirts and listen to Jimmy Buffett," Kipper said.

After making the first quilt she made a virtual replica for Marshello's mom.

There were a few different pictures on that quilt, she said.

"I think this quilt brought everybody together, (through gathering the pictures)," Kipper said. "I know it made my mom and me closer. It brought all of us together."

Kipper is currently working on her third quilt for a friend who recently had a stroke.

She said that she really enjoys making memory quilts and would love to start a sewing business someday, called Pam's Quilts Inspired by Tom.