Tully Community Chadwick Quilt

The Tully Community Chadwick Quilt project was organized by then Tully Free Library Trustee President Wilma Fessenden as a fundraising raffle for the library in 1976. Each square represents a familiar Tully scene. The twenty squares were selected, designed and quilted by local women. The finished quilt measures 75 x 61 inches and is still in pristine condition.

Axilda Chadwick was the raffle winner. She and her husband, Dr. Leon Chadwick, were long time summer residents of Tully Lake in a Hoffman Road cottage. Both Chadwicks were great Tully Free Library supporters, and Axilda's work and concern for women and children in Central New York was legendary. The Chadwick Residence, a non-profit organization in the "Valley” area of Syracuse for homeless women and their children, was named in honor of Axilda Chadwick.

After Axilda passed away in 2002, her family, son Ray and his wife Madelyn and their daughters, took possession of the quilt. In July 2018 the family contacted Anne Padget, a former Tully Free Library Director, informing her that they wished to donate the quilt to the library. She has asked the Tully Free Library Trustees to accept this gift on behalf of the Chadwick family with the hope that this treasure will be appropriately displayed for the benefit of the community.

The quilt was welcomed back to the Tully Free Library with a reception on June 9, 2019.