Marguerite Gourley Ickis

Marguerite Ickis, 84, of Dennis, died Thursday, August 28, at her home. An Ohio native, she moved to the Cape in 1946, where she operated a summer restaurant known as The County Fair, where the Red Pheasant Inn now stands. She received a master's degree in botany from Columbia University in New York and later taught botany there and was the founder of the Institute of Recreation at the Columbia University Teachers College. Prior to moving to the Cape, she worked for the New York Department of Agriculture for five years and was active in the Girl Scouts and the WPA in New York. The author of 20 books, one of her writings, "The Standard Book of Quilt Making and Collecting" is said to be the definitive text on that subject. Burial was in Dennis Cemetery. (The Register, Thursday, September 04, 1980; Page: 21) Marguerite was a 1979 inductee to the Quilters Hall of Fame, and here is an excerpt from their website: "Taught to quilt by her mother and Quaker grandmother, Marguerite helped provide batting for quilts with wool produced on the family farm. She referred to her childhood in the early 1900s as "the golden age for this craft" and she relished the social exchanges quilting brought into her life, with the quilting bees held on the farm and in neighboring communities. From 1940 to 1960 Marguerite authored an astonishing number of books on various arts and crafts topics, as well as the book that established her as an authority on quilt making– The Standard Book of Quilt Making and Collecting, which was published in 1949. Reprinted in a paperback edition in 1959 by Dover Publishing Company, it has been one of the publisher’s best-selling books for more than forty years. The book was designed to provide an “understandable guide for the beginner” and to give the experienced quilter a resource for quilt designs and techniques. Illustrated with more than one hundred quilts and patterns, the book includes forty full-size patterns with complete instructions. Marguerite passed away in August of 1980. A memorial fund was established in her name for a recreation room at the Senior Citizens’ Center in Dennis, Massachusetts, an appropriate dedication to an individual whose life was devoted to teaching others the enjoyment and importance of pursuing traditional arts and crafts."