Simple Gifts – Volunteer has knit more than 3,000 hats for Boone Babies

By Shannon Whitney

This story is featured in the Winter 2013 edition of myBoone Health magazine. Click here for a free subscription.

Eda Wegener, 91, volunteered all of her life. She was a member of P.E.O., a national women’s organization, active in the First Presbyterian Church of Mexico, delivered Meals on Wheels and volunteered at hospitals for many years.

After having a severe brain aneurysm in November of 2002, Wegener spent more than two months at Boone Hospital. After finally going home, she searched for a way to give back to the hospital that gave her life.

She remembered seeing a newborn baby in the hospital. The child was wearing a sweet little cap. That’s when the light bulb went on.

“I thought, ‘Well gosh, I know how to knit. I could knit for them,” she said. “So that is how I started and now I can’t seem to stop.”

Helping with hats

Each day she spends time working on her hats. Some days it’s 10 minutes, other days it’s a few hours. Usually Wegener finishes about 25 hats each month. In the past eight years, she’s totaled more than 3,000 hats for Boone Babies.

“I never thought I’d live to be the age I am,” Wegener said sweetly. “Apparently, someone has some work for me to do still. I can’t do many other things. But I can still knit.”

Wegener simply loves to help people. She bakes for the residents of her community on their birthdays and used to make jams and jellies to share. She also used to knit hats for the children at the Head Start in Mexico, Mo.

Lagniappe

Wegener spent much of her adult life moving around the country with her late husband, who was an engineer, and their two daughters.

In Louisiana, she picked up a term that describes her work perfectly: Laniappe. It’s a Louisiana French term meaning “a little something extra.”

“I think the new mothers really enjoy something that the hospital gives,” she explained. “It’s kept me alive and going, just the idea that someone is appreciating what I’ve done.”

Those little, sentimental gestures live on in baby books and newborn photos for years to come.

“Oh the parents love the hats. They just think they’re beautiful,” said Ann Douglas, nurse in the newborn nursery. “We love them too, we really enjoy being able to hand them out.”

Knitting roots

Wegener learned to knit when she was three years old. She grew up in Northern England with two older sisters. Her father taught them all to knit warm stockings using meat skewers.

Since learning, Wegener’s also learned to make sweaters, coats and hats.  Her daughters remember their mother knitting some of their clothes.

She later taught one of her daughters to knit and she occasionally helps with the hats.

Family stories

As the matriarch of the family, she loves to tell stories and their family has many. In her apartment, with the occasional interjection from her daughter, Carol, Wegener can remember all sorts of funny family anecdotes.

Unfortunately her brain aneurysm is now one of those stories. From the way she tells it, you would have guessed it happened to someone else.

After feeling uneasy one morning, she went to the emergency room at Audrain Medical Center. Right away the physician on duty recognized what was going on and had Wegener airlifted to Boone Hospital Center.

Wegener still jokes about the helicopter ride, “I paid a lot of money for that ride and I didn’t even get to see the scenery!”

Once at Boone, she went immediately into surgery. Her family was told she had a slim chance of survival. Wegener held on and surprised them all.

Now she is grateful for the care she received, even though she admits she was not always a cooperative patient.

Her daughter Carol is glad her mother is sharing her story and her talents.

“I’ve always wanted people to see mom through my eyes. I’m so proud of her,” Carol said. “She does so much for so many people.”