It Happened in Crawford County: Sue Rothhaar has a passion for painting and quilting

Sue Rothhaar is a daughter of Art and Lola Kalb Eckstein. She was raised in New Washington with her sisters, Nancy Kauffman and Carol Garverick. Sue went to school in New Washington and grew up sewing like her mom taught her.

She began by making doll clothes, her clothes and different sewing projects as a 10-year member of her 4-H club. She also qualified to show some projects at the Ohio State Fair. Sue enjoyed school and graduated in 1965.

After graduation, Sue entered Mansfield General Hospital School of Nursing. graduating in 1968. Her future husband was in Vietnam, and she stayed focused on her nursing career. Sue and Ken Rothhaar married after her nursing training was completed. Her mother made her wedding and bridesmaids dresses. Ken was an electrician with Timken and is a son of Donald and Lula Luidhardt Rothhaar of the Chatfield area.

Career in nursing at hospital and doctor offices

Sue took her first job at Bucyrus Community Hospital on the med/surgery floor. She worked there until her second child was on the way and then took time off to raise her family. She started back to work as an office nurse for Dr. Carl Ide, and by the time she retired in 2009, she had worked for eight doctors. Sue often joked she was so stable in that job people thought she came with the office furniture.

Sue continued to sew for her family and taught her daughter and granddaughters her sewing skills. She even took the challenge of making elaborate equestrian show shirts for her granddaughter. The word is out Sue can fix anything with her sewing machine.

Alice Tupps taught Sue how to draw and paint. She began by using local barns as her subject. She had drawings made into notecards. She uses oils, watercolors and ink. Sue’s biggest oil painting was 22- by 40-inch and is a family treasure for her brother-in-law Tom Garverick. Landscapes and still life are Sue’s favorite subjects to paint; she doesn’t like drawing people’s faces.

She took first- and second-place awards at the Bratwurst Festival and Clyde Art Show. She often uses slate as the base for her paintings. Some were commissioned pictures of family homes, such as Dr. Robert and Marilyn Solt, and the homes of their parents. Sue even painted Silver King tractors on an antique crosscut saw for a collector.

There's a quilting story to be told

Sue "fell" into quilting in 1968 when she received muslin squares of fabric. She embroidered animals on each square and sewed them together with printed fabric. She was assisted by her mother-in-law, Lulu, and her mother, learning how to hand quilt the piece.

When Sue’s kids got older and didn’t want handmade clothes anymore, she turned to making quilts. Sue usually chooses to make quilts that have a story to tell or when they are memory quilts. One of her quilts is representative of the fabric of her uniform and apron from student nursing. She also used patches from her scrubs when she worked in the doctor offices. The title of another favorite was the “COVID Quilt.”

Both of Sue’s sisters are quilters and they all made 2½-inch squares. They swapped them back and forth and each decided how they would sew them together resulting in very different looks. Another quilt titled “Charmin 508” was a copy of the bathroom floor of the home she grew up in New Washington. Who knew toilet paper would be the subject of a quilt! The house number was 508.

Another quilt started with pieces of fabric in the design of a fan, probably from an auction. They were hand pieced; she did the same and then hand quilted it. When she was about three-fourths finished, she had carpal tunnel surgery and the quilting had to be finished by machine by Sue.

Sue’s next big favorite was from a quilt kit named “A River Runs Thru It,” with each block bordered by a twisted ribbon. Left to her own imagination, it was fabrics she wouldn’t choose, but it turned out beautiful. The colors were rather mutated greens, blues and pinks with medallions lined up in a row. It took a lot of time, patience, determination, perseverance and thread but was well worth it. She received a blue ribbon at the Crawford County Fair in 2023 for her entry. Every painting or quilt is fully documented and entered with pictures in her record books.

Stained-glass quilts to match church windows

Sue is a member of the Evangelical Pietist Church in Chatfield. The original was built south of Chatfield, torn down, and the old Chatfield School became the new church. There were no stained-glass windows there, and Sue decided to make stained glass quilts that were replicas of the old church windows.

She continues making wall hangings and three new banners will go up in the church after the Fourth of July. Sue also made quilted wall hangings for friends and their little church in Seneca County.

Kenneth and Sue have three children − Aaron; Matthew and Amanda. Sue plans to make a quilt for each of her seven grandkids to show her love for each one at their graduation.

Go online for more of Mary Fox’s stories and photos on bucyrustelegraphforum.com. If you are interested in sharing a story, write Mary Fox, 931 Marion Road, Bucyrus, OH 44820 or email littlefoxfactory@columbus.rr.com.

This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Retired nurse Sue Rothhaar shares her passion for painting and quilts