Pontius wins senior Bigfork Senior Center's nine-month long quilt raffle

Out of over one-thousand raffle tickets, Bigfork’s Maggie Pontius, 98, won the Bigfork Senior Center’s quilt raffle on Sept. 13.

“I never was one to win much,” Pontius said. “I’ve got an awful lot of grandkids waiting to see that quilt.”

The quilt was handmade by the Piece Makers quilting group at the senior center and raffle tickets went on sale just before last Christmas. Over the next nine months raffle tickets were sold with all the benefits going toward keeping the center open, according to Michele Shapero, director of the senior center. Pontius bought her ticket in March or April.

Shapero and Phil Bolstad, president of the senior center’s board, and Judy Bolstad, brought the quilt to Pontius’ home on Sept. 14 where she talked about her experiences with the senior center.

Pontius moved to Bigfork over 40 years ago from southern California and was one of the founding members of the Bigfork Senior Center in the late 1970s. She estimated that two-thirds of the books from the original Bigfork Library came from her personal collection.

Shapero said those books are still on the shelves at the center’s library.