My daughter Anne and I were reminiscing today about a friend of hers that we made a keeping box for. Wilma Hubbard has been gone about 20 years but she lives on in our memories. Anne worked with her at Union Knitwear in 1991-1992 when that sewing factory was located in the big building on the right on Durham just after you turned off Maynardville Highway. That was before the building burned and Union Knitwear moved further down the street.

Anne had never worked in a sewing factory before. Her health has always been poor. She needed an income to support herself and her son, Larry, when she moved to Tennessee. Anne's job there was closing t-shirt sleeves. The sleeves were double with the undersleeve of a different color so when turned up for a cuff, a different color trimmed the t-shirt. The seam had to be perfect. If not, the person setting sleeves would have trouble.

Anne was suffering from back problems. Sitting at a machine all day was almost more than she could do. There were two rows of sewing machines facing each other. Wilma worked nearby and saw how Anne was suffering. One day at break Wilma yelled across the machines, “Let's go burn one!” Anne looked up to see who said that. Imagine her surprise to see an older lady holding up a pack of cigarettes. That was Anne's introduction to Wilma Hubbard.

Wilma would be a good friend to Anne, showing her the little shortcuts that made sewing easier. She encouraged her when Anne was feeling poorly. Wilma lived in Sharps Chapel in a trailer behind her mother's house. We visited her there several times, taking her cookies at Christmas time.

At her birthday one year, we made her a keeping box. This is an old-timey chest for keepsakes and family treasures. I had found a pattern for one in a woodworking magazine. It wasn't easy to make, but that didn't stop Anne and I from cutting out pieces and putting one together.. It had a barrel type top and a lower drawer opening in the front. We didn't put a clasp or lock on it. Why bother, when all you had to do was pick it up and walk off with it.

Wilma was the friend all of us want to have. She didn't ask for anything in return. She was a good mother to her two children, Tony and Donna Kay. If you should see one of them, ask whatever became of the keeping box.