Rosie Cowman
Crafting Cards with Love
Source: http://www.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/ci-heroes-rosie-cowman
Most people really enjoy going to the mailbox and seeing their name on an envelope.
One card crafter in Knox County is making sure every greeting she sends resonates with its recipient.
In a little house, in a little room, a woman, little in stature, is big on spreading a lot of love.
“Well, I’ve always like art things, I think. I’ve always made them since I was a little kid,” explains Rosemary “Rosie” Cowman.
Rosie spends hours in her craft room every day, hand making cards. By the way, she’s 99-years-old.
About 20 years ago, she started keeping track of what she made.
“Well, I just know I have kept a list of who I’ve sent to my friends and all, sometimes I make several at the same time I like and I didn’t want to send them back another one just like it the next time I sent them one.”
Rosie put that same care into the cards she sent to soldiers overseas for several years.
“I sent 3,200 in four years,” she says.
Each one sealed with her special signature….
She’s donated to hospitals and nursing home, giving to people to send to their loved ones.
But she never sells.
“Oh, because, I just don’t know, I just feel like it’s something I do from my heart. And I don’t…I just didn’t feel right charging for ’em,” explains Cowman.
If she did, this detail would probably bring a fortune.
But Rosie is already rich, and earns more every time her friends and family open their mail.
“Well, I know they think of me. That’s nice to know I am thought about.”
As the saying goes, “it’s the thought that counts”
That couldn’t be truer for Rosie Cowman as she looks back on her nearly 100 years of life, and every time she sits down to create something new.
“Well I know you have to keep busy,” Rosie says. “You have to keep your mind going as well as your heart.”
Rosie will be 100-years-old in February.
She doesn’t miss a beat; she still drives her car to coffee every morning.
