History of the “United for Youth” Quilt

From Mom Robin Jackson, Former Grand Deputy of District 1:

This year (2001) I was delighted to walk into the Grand Assembly room and find displayed a beautiful quilt duplicating the old United for Youth wooden sign that had hung in the back of our Grand Assembly room for thirty years!        

This was particularly meaningful to both my mother, Mom Smoot, and me because my father had designed this sign for the Supreme Assembly session held in Cleveland, Ohio back in 1970.  Every year since then this huge emblem has hung in the back of the Grand Assembly room at Ohio University in Athens.   When it was decided to move our Grand Assembly from Athens to Ohio Wesleyan in 2000,  the United for Youth sign was taken down for the last time and put into storage.  It was in pretty bad shape by then and too large to use in our new location.   I remember feeling very sad that year because I knew that that would probably be the last time I would see this sign that my father had designed.  I reflected fondly back on 1970 and our Supreme Session in Ohio.  I was a Grand Officer at the time.  I didn't realize at that time that this sign would grace our Grand Assembly room for years to come or that countless girls would pose in the west under this sign for pictures.  Yes, it was a very sad day for me in 1999 when I took my own last picture of the United for Youth sign hanging in the west in Athens.     

But this year I was surprised and very touched to find a brand new United for Youth sign in the form of a beautiful quilt hanging once again in our Grand Assembly room!   An exact duplicate of the old sign!  Only better! I can't begin to express what this means to me.  Thank you Wendy Crawford for making this beautiful quilt for Ohio!    

A BIG THANK YOU to Wendy, I just can't describe my appreciation.                                                                                              

"Mom" Robin Jackson