Georgina Fries

Georgina Blake was born in New Jersey in 1939.  Her family ran the Steele Ship Bar in Somers Point, the first bar across the bridge from the dry town of Ocean City.  They lived with Georgina’s grandparents in an apartment over the club and her grandmother cooked meals for the family nightly.  Sensing a downturn, her father sold the business and bought a yellow cab company and within a year, the nightclub burned down.  Georgina finished college, started teaching and married Richard Fries in 1961.

They moved to Pittsburgh, and that’s where they started their family of five children. Having grown up in the hospitality industry, when Georgina returned to work, she served in restaurants rather than teaching, so she could be home with her children during the day.  She quilted on the side for fun.  Always loving quilting, Georgina decided to open up a quilt shop in her small town of Lothian.  Since 1981, Georgina and her husband Richard have continued their quilt business from their home and web, called Bellwether Dry Goods (www.bellwetherdrygoods.com),  They work with over one hundred Amish and Mennonite quilters, and their quilts were recently featured in “The Washington Post.”

Georgina is a self-taught cook who learned by trial and error.  Her first batch of cookies failed because she didn’t know the difference between baking soda and baking powder.  She doesn’t give up though, and works on her recipes until they’re just right.  She happily participates in church suppers and had her children help when they were growing up.  Georgina loved these suppers because it gave her an opportunity to learn from the “old timers” and make dishes she was proud to serve.  One time she made a chicken pie for a potluck church supper and no one ate it.  She was mortified and thought there was something wrong until her husband admitted that he told everyone not to try it because “it’s terrible.”

He confessed that he just wanted to take it back home and have it all to himself!