For a number of years, a little elderly lady in a white Lincoln town car would show up at the dealership on one of the days leading up to the annual Christmas Eve breakfast event at Phil Waterford’s Manteca Ford.

 Each year, she would bring her car packed with handmade quilts to donate to the children attending the breakfast.

She thought it was such a wonderful way for the Ford dealership to give back to the community. Making quilts to donate each year became one of her favorite personal traditions she established in her later years.

That little elderly lady was Hallie Gillingwater Cotrell who passed away Jan. 21 at age 93.

“She was an incredible human being, and someone I thought of often,” Waterford said. “To us, she will always be “The Quilt Lady,” a gentle soul who showed up year after year with the gift of warmth, love, and humility.”

In one of her final years that she was still able to quilt, she delivered about 25 bags of four quilts each to the event where the dealership served Christmas Eve breakfast to all comers and made sure Santa had a toy for every child in attendance.

“I remember her white Lincoln and that familiar smile as if it were yesterday.” Waterford said. “She never sought recognition, yet she gave so much of herself. Those quilts wrapped more than just children, they wrapped our entire community in kindness. Her quiet generosity made a real and lasting difference, and we will never forget her.”

She attended Manteca High School and Modesto Junior College and later worked as a substitute teacher and in clerical roles. On November 8, 1952, she married John Wayne Cotrell, and together they raised two children, Christine and Steven, eventually settling on an almond ranch in Ripon.

   A woman of quiet service and deep compassion, she opened her home and heart to 12 foster children and was a devoted lifelong member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, faithfully serving the Ripon Ward.

In her later years, she cherished her role as “Grammie” to her four grandchildren, whom she lovingly called her “lovebugs.”