Local women get ready for Relay With hearts and hands

Noreen Hyslop photo Residents at Cypress Point Skilled Nursing, Ira Abbott, at left, and Geneva Crank have been busy making beaded jewelry items that will be for sale at tonight's Relay for Life.

The two women have done just that, and for the most worthy of causes.

For several months, Geneva Crank has been "cranking out" jewelry from her room at Cypress Point Residential Care in Dexter. She finds the busy work good for the mind and the soul.

"I like to stay busy," she says. "I make jewelry every day except on Sunday. That's my day to read."

A friend down the hall, Ira Abbott, recently entered into the enterprise as well. With several creations of her own already under hat, the two joined forces and decided, with Stoddard County's Relay for Life event coming up, they would do something to contribute to what they both saw as a very worthy cause.

"We make bracelets and earrings and bookmarks, and I make rings also," Abbott says of the duo venture.

A walk down the halls of the residential healthcare facility reveals that the ladies' beaded jewelry is a hot item among staff and fellow residents at the local care center. Wrists bearing beads and matching earrings are a common sight.

The team uses all kinds of colored beads, pearl beads, silver and gold beads, to string on elastic or wire to create their masterpieces. Very much in demand are the lettered bracelets that spell out the names of children and grandchildren.

"They're a good seller," Geneva says.

So popular are the efforts of the two that several who have received word of their efforts have donated old, unused jewelry for the dynamic duo to "recycle" into new, more modern jewelry pieces.

"My son sent me money for Christmas," says Crank, "and I told him I hoped he didn't mind, but I spent all of it on beads and materials."

The women clearly enjoy their task and consider it therapeutic.

"I've got arthritis in my hands," Abbott explains, "and I think it helps to do this kind of work. It keeps them exercised and that's good for them."

"She works a lot quicker than I do," her counterpart says, but together the two have turned out literally thousands of items this year.

Red and black items are big sellers for local Bearcat boosters, and the butterfly and beads are a big seller also.

And so with all their might, a whole lot of heart, and very busy hands, the two fill their days doing for others and helping, bracelet by beaded bracelet, to give cancer victims hope for a cure.

Their jewelry will be among the many items on sale at Friday night's Relay for Life at West City Park, with all proceeds going to the American Cancer Society.