Pat Johnston at home in Nobleboro with one of her Quilts of Appreciation, which she has spent years making for local veterans. Johnston said seeing the reactions of recipients at the presentation events she hosts is her payment for the work. (Elizabeth Walztoni photo)
Nobleboro resident Pat Johnston gets up in the morning with her day planned out and always has – when she was a mother and home caterer, during her time as an insurance biller for a local eye doctor, and in her current occupation making quilts for local veterans.
“I’m always saying things happen for a reason, and so many times I’ve seen it happen,” she said.
Johnston grew up in Rockland, where her parents ran a fish market. She spent much of her time with her grandmother during her youth. Her grandmother’s welcoming approach to family and strangers alike left a strong impression on the young Johnston, who sees that influence in the work she does today, along with that of her father and an old friend.
Johnston recalled her grandmother knitting bait bags in her rocking chair singing hymns, then getting up to offer biscuits and molasses to people passing by who were in need of a meal. If it was cold outside, visitors never left without a pair of knitted mittens.
“That’s how I feel about it,” Johnston said of her own approach to doing things for others. “It makes me feel good.”
After high school, she spent her early working life as a cake decorator and caterer while raising her two children, then several years working for a Rockland ophthalmologist before moving to Lincoln County in 1991 when she married Wayne Johnston. She spent 17 years in insurance billing for the optometrist practice of McCormick, Bouchard and Hancock in Damariscotta, now Coastal Family Eye Care.
“I loved everybody that I worked with, and it was just a big family,” she said.
Pat Johnston’s third act overlapped in 1999, when she began making quilts for area veterans with a local group that has since disbanded.
“Because Wayne is a Vietnam veteran, I got very interested in thanking veterans, and I thought, ‘Why can’t I make a quilt?’” she said.
She spent some years with a group and now quilts eight to 10 a year on her own with a handful of helpers. Each one takes about 40 hours to complete.
“I achieved to make a quilt, and I achieved the veteran to accept it,” Pat Johnston said. “I love to have a pattern and watch it grow.”
She and Wayne host quilt presentations together at their home, and both of them are always on the lookout for new veterans, finding them in line at the store or through word of mouth.
“I don’t take failure well, so I go above and beyond as much as I can with any job that I do,” she said.
To Pat Johnston, this sometimes includes convincing reluctant veterans to accept a quilt. Some say they do not deserve it or that someone else might need it more. Johnston tries to talk with each one and strategizes how to reach them, sometimes thinking about it all night.
She will often ask them if they have ever lost a family member or a good friend in the military, and whether they would have wanted that loved one to accept a quilt.
The veterans may not see specialists, go to support groups, or be able to talk about their post-traumatic. Receiving quilts has managed to reach them in their own way, according to Johnston. She also sees the presentation as a way to thank veterans who may not have had recognition when they came home.
She has stories to tell about her quilt recipients being moved by accepting their blankets and finding fellowship with each other. Sometimes, their spouses will tell her that a veteran was able to get a good night’s sleep for the first time in decades under their quilt. One recipient told her shortly before his death that the experience had changed his life.
“That’s my payment,” Pat Johnston said of seeing the reactions veterans have and how they are able to connect with each other through the quilt presentation. “Making quilts for veterans makes my heart happy.”
Groups across the country hold similar quilt presentations for veterans, and some require recipients to have seen active combat. Pat Johnston’s only requirement is that they took the oath to enlist, which she called the “blank check” with their lives.
Tomorrow is never promised, she noted, and she herself always makes a plan at night for the next day. Knowing what’s next when one put their feet on the floor in the morning is helpful, she believes, especially when it comes to keeping active while aging.
“If I could get a filing cabinet in my refrigerator, I’d have one,” she joked. “I’m everybody’s secretary,” including her husband’s. Pat Johnston said the couple works well together with their various pursuits and shared friends.
“That’s how marriage should be, is just working together,” she said.
Together, they have an annual party for dozens of friends to celebrate life with a chicken barbecue.
“We don’t want to celebrate when we die, we want to celebrate now,” she said.
The Johnstons also clean and manage several vacation rental cottages for different owners. They are involved with Wreaths Across America and Honor Flight, along with their membership in the Boothbay America Legion Post No. 36.
At home, the two enjoy spending time with their dog, Shelby. Pat Johnston said she sees dogs as one living thing that always wants to give back and is free of the competitive instincts seen in humans.
Wherever she goes and whatever she does, though, Johnston said she always enjoys interacting with people.
“The more I do, the more I want to do,” she said. “I truly love life, and I try to live it every day that way.”
To recommend a quilt recipient or get involved with Quilts of Appreciation, email Pat Johnston at pjohns@tidewater.net.
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