When Elias Lopez received a handmade gray scarf in 2001, the Weslaco, Texas, native didn't even know how to wear it.
The scarf came as a gift from Patricia Patrick, who worked in the MSU Office of Supportive Services. Patrick knitted scarves for MSU students in the College Assistance Migrant Program, or CAMP, a five-year-old program that provides assistance to students who are children of migrant families.
Stitch by stitch, row by row, scarf by scarf, Patrick knit one for each student in the newly formed program, knowing that many of CAMP's members had never experienced winter conditions before.
Lopez became close to Patrick, who also was in charge of the tutoring program for CAMP, as he worked with her in the Supportive Services office.
He said she wanted to do everything she could to get to know the CAMP students and help them adjust to living in a new place.
Patrick died of a stroke at age 58 two years ago today.
"When her church would have a rummage sale, she would invite the students to come in before it opened to get whatever they wanted — coats, gloves — for free," said Lopez, a family and community services senior. "She was my mentor. When I would get good grades, I'd go to her and say, 'I got a 4.0.'
"When she died, I felt alone. I didn't know who to run to … I could say she was my best friend."
Although Patrick's knitting needles might have stopped, the tradition she started was only beginning to be put in motion.
Since Patrick died, 10-12 of the women who work alongside her husband, Steven Sowards, in the MSU Libraries have continued to knit scarves for CAMP students.
At CAMP's general meeting Sunday, the roughly 60 students in attendance were able to pick a scarf that would keep them warm from four cardboard boxes of handcrafted scarves.
Each scarf has a tab at the bottom with the embroidered message, "In Memory of Patricia Patrick," reminding students of the person who knitted the first scarf for the students at least five years ago.
Leslie Behm, reference librarian for the MSU Libraries, is one of the women who preserved the scarf project after Patrick died.
Behm said the women knitted the more than 80 scarves already created at home and on lunch breaks, and they used the project as an opportunity to teach others the skill. Sowards gave the group some of Patrick's yarn and materials, and the rest was donated.
"We are feeling really good about it," she said. "When I worked the Study Abroad Fair, I took my knitting along and a girl came up to me and said one of her roommates had a CAMP scarf. It was nice to realize that students on campus, who aren't part of the project, are aware of the scarves. It provides us with a nice, warm feeling."
No-preference freshman and CAMP student Elvia Gonzalez chose a green, blue and purple-striped scarf Sunday because of its detail.
"I wish I had met her," Gonzalez said of Patrick. "It's good to know there are people there to help. She didn't have to come help, but she did it anyway."
Ana Hernandez, a 2005 MSU graduate and CAMP alumna, attended cookouts and birthday parties Patrick held for students at her home — a place Hernandez said started to feel like a home away from her own in Texas.
"She became like family," said Hernandez, who now works for CAMP. "I found her inspirational. If she cared so much, I figured it was my turn to care."
In addition to presenting the scarves, CAMP Associate Director Raul Ramos unveiled the Patricia Patrick and Miles Patrick Memorial Scholarship Endowment at the meeting, which will help undergraduate upperclassmen in the program to finish college and avoid relying on financial aid.
Miles Patrick was Patricia Patrick's brother, who died in the aftermath of a 2001 hurricane.
Sowards, assistant director for collections in the MSU Library, said creating the scholarship was one of Patrick's goals.
"Patricia saw the CAMP students as a real inspiring model of people who were applying themselves and overcoming obstacles to improve their own situation and their family's," Sowards said. "She had a lot of unfinished business."
Sowards attended the CAMP meeting Sunday and said Patrick would have been grateful that her legacy continues.
"It is the recognition of how much she cared about the success of these students and about the hard work she did as well," he said.
Hernandez still has the gray and black scarf Patrick made for her, which is now something she holds as a reminder of the woman who helped her so much.
"It definitely symbolizes more than just a scarf," she said. "I will always cherish it."
