Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By DAISY WASHINGTON / Community Columnist

Agnes Pool strives to help others through her work.

“It means the world to me that I can do the things I do to help others,” Pool said. “The coronavirus disaster has let us know that we are all human. I have lived a blessed life despite it having had some sorrows in it. I am blessed and I know it. That’s why I can work my fingers to the bone doing what I do.”

Born two miles north of Columbiana, Pool is the youngest of four girls. Widowed since 2000, Pool married her high school sweetheart, John Douglas, 39 years ago in 1961. They were blessed with one daughter, Sherry Marie. Agnes has one granddaughter and one grandson.

Agnes has worn several different hats professionally, including being a managing cosmetologist for 20 years, operating an upholstering shop from the back yard of her home, working at the Alabama Department of Transportation and serving as a library assistant.

At 76 years old, Pool decided to leave the workforce for good.

Since then Agnes has been busy sewing her way through the hearts of others.

As a skilled quilter, she has been a volunteer with Quilts for Kids. Since 2010 the group has distributed quilts to Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham, as well as the children’s and women’s hospital in Mobile.

The program has adopted King’s Home as its foster care facility. Every couple of months she carries between 12-15 quilts measuring 45-50 inches wide and 55-60 inches long to the home.

“This project is one of the most important things I’ve ever done,” she said. “It’s very close to me.”

Agnes has authored two books on quilting, and she began teaching quilting in 2014 from her studio in the basement of her home.

Amidst the COVID 19 outbreak, Agnes began a special sewing project that attempts to assist in addressing the crisis surrounding the shortage of Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) for members of the medical community, first responders and others, including even lunchroom workers (who work the school breakfast/lunch distribution program).

She creates an average of five masks an hour. To date nearly 300 masks have been distributed throughout the community.

Agnes also creates masks with the Daughters of the American Revolution members. As of April, DAR members had produced a staggering 126,153 masks on a national level.