Woman quietly helps keep memories alive

Boalsburg volunteer sews keepsakes for grieving families of hospice patients

By Gail Franklin

- For the CDT

Editor's note: "Helping Neighbors" features an exceptional volunteer in Centre County each Monday. To nominate someone for a future story, e-mail cdtnews cdtnewstips@centredaily.com.

CDT/Melissa Doss

Mary Kisner of Boalsburg sews Memory Bears for Medi Home Health and Hospice, pictured working in her residence on Friday, June 12, 2009. Memory Bears are keepsakes for families of Medi clients, and are often personalized, such as using a favorite shirt for the bear's fabric. CDT/Melissa Doss

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Mary Kisner has lived in the State College area almost her entire life, but her work in curriculum development at Penn State and then as a consultant in work force education has kept her on the road for much of her adult life.

Now that she’s retired, she is meeting her neighbors in Boalsburg, rediscovering her home economic skills from the 1970s and volunteering for some people she will never meet.

As a member of the local chapter of the American Sewing Guild the 62-year-old makes “memory bears” for the families of deceased hospice clients of Medi Home Health and Hospice.

The bears are stitched together with fabric that was once a favorite garment, and families are offered the bears as keepsakes, a way to grieve and remember.

Kisner has never met any of the families, but receives T-shirts, robes or other clothing and the number of bears the family has requested. The biggest order she has had is 15 bears for one family.

“She has gone the extra mile by taking the scrap material and making baby bears,” wrote Rita Peterson, of Medi Home Health and Hospice, about Kisner. “Our families rave about how cute the bears are and tell us how much they are appreciated.”

Kisner said she started making the baby bears because she hates to waste anything. Kisner learned that value from her mother, she said.

The former teacher also uses black buttons for eyes and a nose, ties a matching ribbon around each neck, and once added a personal touch to a football-themed bear by purchasing and attaching team patches to the bears.

A few people have learned about her volunteer work and asked to buy the bears from her, but she isn’t interested in money.

“I’m more motivated by giving,” she explained. “I don’t want to sell them. If I’m not making something for someone it’s not fun anymore.”

Kisner chose to get involved with the Sewing Guild’s work with hospice because it’s behind the scenes and involves many independent hours with a sewing machine.

She learned about the bears at last year’s Centre County Council for Human Services volunteer recognition dinner, where she escorted her father, Paul Bixby, as he was recognized for his service at Foxdale Village.

She said she approached the hospice group right away, and helped kickstart the memory bear portion of the Sewing Guild’s hospice work by finding a simple and attractive pattern.

Kisner also helps sew other items for hospice and hospital patients at monthly guild meetings.

However, the irony of receiving a volunteer-of-the-year award at this year’s recognition dinner, when she had hoped to remain anonymous, wasn’t lost on her.

She agreed to be interviewed about her volunteer work because she’d like to give some attention to the hospice group and the sewing guild in the hope more people will donate their time and creative skill.

Kisner said the bear-making has helped her ease into retirement. She likes to keep very busy but she enjoys the time spent alone with the 1946 black and gold Singer Featherweight that she uses to sew all the memory bears.

Not all her volunteer work is done in her sewing room, however. She began to pass on some of those old home economic skills when she recently taught some neighborhood children how to make homemade applesauce.

For more information about the memory bear program, e-mail Kisner at marykisner@aol.com or to learn more about hospice volunteers, e-mail Tina Schmittle at TSchmittle@msa-corp.com.