By Claudia Loucks
Geneseo Current

Family and friends often hear the soft hum of her sewing machine when they stop to visit Norma Lodge, who lives just outside of Geneseo.

The soon-to-be 98-year-old petite lady spends time nearly every day at her sewing machine making pillowcase dresses and boys’ shorts for Operation Christmas Child.

Lodge, who will celebrate her 98th birthday on July 20, completed over 100 of the pillowcase dresses and 100 pairs of shorts to be included in this year’s shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child….”I have some dresses and shorts already made to send next year too,” she added.

Pillowcases are not as plentiful as they were in the past so she uses lots of cotton fabric and said her daughters watch for the end of season sales on materials. She also receives some donations of cotton fabric that she uses to make the dresses and shorts.

In addition to the items for OCC, Lodge also sewed 225 cloth diapers for another mission outreach at her home church, Grace United Methodist in Geneseo.

She spends time at her sewing machine nearly every day, and when not sewing, she enjoys reading, and said, “I just finished reading a book on the Hennepin Canal and that was interesting.”

“I also like to work in my word puzzle books,” she said

A family member shared that her mother makes “the best” chocolate chip cookies from her own recipe. She makes them in large batches and keeps them in the freezer to offer family members and friends who stop to visit.

Age is just a number for Lodge…”It’s good to be busy,” she said. ‘There are many small things we can do for others.”

She will soon be renewing her driver’s license so she can continue to drive to worship services on Sunday mornings at Grace Church as well as to her manicure, pedicure and hair cut appointments and to her chiropractor appointments.

She cooks her own food for meals and added that daughters deliver her groceries and do her laundry.

Even though the group no longer meets, for more than 20 years Lodge was part of a group of faithful servants at her church who made what they called “ugly quilts.”

She shared the idea of making the quilts with members of her church circle at Grace Church and the women met each month at the church. They brought the quilts they had worked on at their homes and spent the time together tying the layers of fabric.

The quilts are warm and cozy, but are called “ugly” because of the variety of fabrics, colors and patterns used to make them, Lodge said.

Lodge and her daughter made many trips to the Humility of Mary warehouse in Davenport to deliver the quilts.

Music also has been an important part of her life and Lodge was a choir member at her church until she turned 90, and she chose to drop out then “because it just became too difficult.”

Her late husband, Glenn Lodge, was a well-known area musician, and Lodge said the entire family enjoyed music.

“Singing is something we could do together,” she said. “We weren’t rich and that didn’t cost money.”

She is mother to five daughters, Nancy Lund, Lynette Wildemuth, and Mary Gorman, all of Geneseo; Janice Thayer, Atlanta, GA; and Joan Eshbaugh, Denver, CO.; two sons, Roger Lodge, Rock Island; and Larry Lodge, Andover; one son, Jim Lodge, is deceased; There are 18 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren, and two more great-grandchildren on the way.

Norma Lodge continues to live by the scripture from Matthew that reads “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” and she added that she has no plans to stop “doing.”