Telling Pictures: Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt

Common Threads: Stories from the Quilt

The Interviews

Sara Lewinstein recalls her life with Dr. Tom Waddell, a champion athlete who competed in the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City and with whom she founded the Gay Games in San Francisco. Lewinstein and Waddell decided to have a child together, and it was after the birth of their daughter Jessica that Waddell discovered he was HIV-positive. He began recording an audio journal for Jessica to remember him by.

Sally Perryman Sallie Perryman stood by her husband Robert for five years as he tried to kick his drug habit. He finally succeeded after the birth of their child was born, but by then he had become infected with HIV. Despite his increasing physical weakness, Robert continued to counsel drug addicts until his death.

Vito Russo, an outspoken New York-based film critic and author (The Celluloid Closet), had a long-distance relationship with shy San Franciscan Jeffrey Sevcik. When Jeffrey was diagnosed with AIDS, Vito quit his job and moved to San Francisco to take care of him. By then Vito too had been diagnosed with HIV. While Jeffrey’s response to illness was to withdraw from the world, Vito took to the streets. A founding member of ACT-UP, Vito protested the government’s lack of response and the lack of treatment options as Jeffrey’s health continued to deteriorate.

Suzi and David Mandell faced substantial challenges raising their son, David, Jr., who was diagnosed with hemophilia as an infant. David contracted HIV from a routine blood transfusion. The Mandells were determined to help young David hold on to the magic of childhood as long as he could, but the disease matured him far beyond his years. He was 11 when he died.

Tracy Torrey led a closeted life as a Commander in the Navy. His lover David Campbell, a landscape architect, succumbed to the disease very quickly. By the time Tracy came to San Francisco to make a quilt panel in memory of his lover, Tracy himself was quite ill. Concerned that there would be no one to make a panel for him after he died, Tracy decided to make one for himself.