| Sources |
- [S74] Atchley Funeral Home Records, Volume IV, 1987-1999, Larry D. Fox, (Smoky Mountain Historical Society), 12 Apr 1999.
Arthur John Stupka obituary
- [S84] E-Mail, Vicky Murrell [tnnative1@planetc.com], 29 Dec 2004.
- [S106] The Mountain Press, 18 Mar 2007.
Sewing Up History
By: GAIL CRUTCHFIELD
Community News March 18, 2007
Quilter pays homage to ancestors art
PIGEON FORGE - Susie Murphy of Panama City, Fla., is no stranger to the Smoky Mountains. She grew up here, a member of one of the first families to settle here - artisans who sold their crafts up and down the mountain and into the valley.
Murhpy is the granddaughter of Sam and Flora Compton, who were well known for their basket weaving. Though a generation apart in age, Murphy and her first-cousin, Vicky Murrell of Sevierville, both remember watching their grandparents creating the baskets. Murrell's father, Sam Compton Jr., is Murphy's uncle, though they were nearly the same age.
For two years, Murphy created on her own piece of art to honor the memory and craftsmanship of her grandparents - a hand-stitched applique quilt with 12 blocks (three wide, four high) featuring flower-filled representations of the baskets the Comptons made. One of those blocks, three rows down and in the center, is an exact replica of the one basket of her grandfather's that Murphy still possesses.
Last week, the quilt was on display at the Mountain Quiltfest at the Ramada Inn in Pigeon Forge.
"It's beautiful," said Faith Reitmier of Woodruff, S.C., as she and her sister-in-law, Barbara Reitmier of Moore, S.C., stopped to examine the quilt.
"We were just amazed at how she did the flowers first and put them on there, arranging them like flowers in a pot," Faith added. "You have to be more than a quilter to do that. You have to be an artist."
Murphy has been practicing the art of quilting for about 15 years. She was first introduced to it when her grandmother would make quilts, working on them from a frame hanging from the ceiling. But it wasn't until Murphy injured her hand that she took up a needle and thread to make a quilt.
Working as a manager at a beachside restaurant, Murphy said she and the other employees were always watchful of the building's heavy glass door. One very windy day, she said she noticed a small child heading toward the door and knew he could be seriously injured if someone didn't step in. She did and as she grabbed the door the wind grabbed it and her before slamming the door, breaking the glass and cutting her hand. It took 129 stitches, she said, to close the gaping wound. .
"I needed to do therapy," she said. "And the doctor gave me three balls to squeeze.
"That hurt so bad," she said, adding she decided if she needed to exercise her hands she'd rather make a quilt than squeeze exercise balls.
"I just kept making 'em, but it did hurt," she said. "I sat there and cried."
Today, arthritis is the only thing that may slow Murphy down and she only thought about crying over this quilt as the deadline neared.
"I was pushing the deadline," she said.
Murphy made each flower in the baskets separately before placing them around the baskets. One basket, she said, is full of the "reject" flowers she saved for the last baskets.
"I don't know if the quilt police would like it," she said. "But that's what I wanted to do."
Murphy, Murrell and her sister, Geanine Cruise, were all pleased with the results. None, probably, more so than Murrell who was pleased to learn the quilt would be hers at the close of Quiltfest today.
"Aren't you jealous?" she asked her sister as they studied the quilt.
"I'm afraid to use it, and how do I protect it?" Murphy added.
"It's just breathtaking" said Cruise, who is taking quilting classes now. "It means so much to our family."
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1958 - (68 years)
(Age 91 years)