Like the quilts displayed in her home, Jean Brew’s life is a tapestry of stories, carefully stitched, lovingly preserved, and meant to be passed down.

Recently honored with the William Canfield History Award, Jean has spent a lifetime making sure the past is not forgotten. But for her, history isn’t about dates or dusty artifacts. It’s about people, their lives, their struggles, their joys, and the small details that might otherwise slip away.

Jean traces her love of history back to two early influences: a mother who valued old things and the stories behind them, and a dramatic Prairie du Sac history teacher who brought the past to life. Add in Sunday dinners filled with stories, and it’s easy to see how she became a natural storyteller.

Jean has lived in Sauk County her entire life and woven herself into the fabric of the community. She taught home economics for more than twenty years and helped found the Dells Country Historical Society to save the historic 1855 Bowman House.

To support that effort, Jean started a quilt show fundraiser that ran for more than twenty years. Imagine room after room of color and craftsmanship, quilts stitched with care, each one telling its own story.

That love of stitching stories into fabric shows up in smaller ways, too. Each Christmas, Jean gives members of the Historical Society a hand-sewn novelty. I’ve received several, but my favorite is a table runner with a horse scene that tells a story every time I look at it.

Much of her work required time and devotion to things she knew she might never personally benefit from. Preserving a house isn’t for today. It’s for the future, for people who will walk through those creaky doors, imagine conversations, and feel a sense of connection because someone cared enough to save it for them.

Jean is known for her collections and displays, especially at the Badger Steam and Gas Engine Show each spring. A wedding dress display and one featuring gingham fabrics are just two exhibits that help bring the past to life.

Jean wore gingham when she greeted my fourth-grade students and me during our field trip to the Bowman House. Seeing her checkered apron helped transport us back in time. She shared stories about the home and even showed us where the family once hid their silverware. (Ask about the location the next time you visit the house.)

It wasn’t just a history lesson. It was an experience.

Jean believes those experiences matter, especially for the younger generation. “Talk to your grandparents,” she encourages. “Listen to their stories.” Because it’s through those stories that children begin to understand where they come from and who they are.

During our last visit, she shared a story about her father-in-law riding a pony to school past the Dells’ railroad tracks, where hobos gathered. I found myself leaning in, wanting to hear more.

That’s the gift Jean Brew offers: not just history, but curiosity and connection.

Like a well-made quilt, her handiwork brings together scraps of the past, memories, places, and people, and turns them into something we can wrap around ourselves.

Most of us aren’t on a mission to restore a historic home or display our collections, but we do share something with Jean. Like her, we carry our own pieces of history.

If we take the time to share those memories, we become part of something larger than ourselves. Like Jean, we can pass along pieces of the past, giving future generations something to hold onto, learn from, and remember long after we’re gone.