Hats off to this lady!
LOREN BENOIT/Press Hayden resident Daphine Aragon, 91, has created a total of over 1,600 pieces of handcrafted headwear, which she donates to hospitals and shelters in Coeur d’Alene, Spokane and Seattle.
It takes Hayden resident Daphine Aragon about 2 hours to make a hat. These will be given to local hospitals and shelters. (LOREN BENOIT/Press)
Daphine Aragon during her 90 birthday last year. courtesy photo
Daphine Aragon in her early twenties. courtesy photo
Daphine Aragon has worn many hats in her 91 years of life.
She’s knitted even more.
Aragon started knitting hats in 2016 as a way to pass the time. In the past three years, she has created a total of 1,610 pieces of handcrafted headwear, which she donates to hospitals and shelters in Coeur d’Alene, Spokane and Seattle.
People who know her love stories like this:
When Aragon lived in Great Falls, Mont., she managed a convenience store. Someone tried to rob it while she was on duty.
It was not a good plan.
She refused to hand over so much as one thin dime, then called police. A scuffle ensued with the would-be robber, who tried to run from the store. Aragon gave chase. The man was duly apprehended.
Aragon was born in Breckenridge, Texas — a little town straight west of Fort Worth — in 1928. She and her husband retired to Coeur d’Alene in 1975, though it doesn’t appear as though she’s ever slowed down: She has taught herself to play the guitar, decorate cakes and work with leather. She also likes motorcycles.
“I rode motorcycles, and I was in a race in Texas — and I enjoyed that,” Aragon said. “I was basically raised on a motorcycle.”
Her daughter and granddaughter described Daphine as a strong and fiercely independent woman. She grew up in an era when men were sent off to war and women had to step forward to maintain the homefront. It shaped her, and she passed the lessons on to her 11 children. Now, her 36 grandchildren are learning her ways.
“She always said you can take care of yourself and you can be self-sufficient and you are capable of doing anything you want,” said her daughter, Cindy Parris.
In retirement, Aragon began to tire of doing nothing all day and decided she needed a hobby. Her daughter asked her if she’d be interested in knitting. Aragon had taught herself to knit as a child. After she returned to it, she had to relearn a few things she’d forgotten. But after a little practice, it was as if she’d been knitting every day of her life.
“I knew she needed to be busy doing something and I came across the stuff to crochet,” Parris said.
Aragon’s granddaughter, Sienna Wismer, recently helped her grandmother learn how to make tie blankets. Aragon was making hats so quickly that her daughter was constantly running to the store for yarn — about $150 worth a month. It was enough yarn to saturate the hat market.
“The lady was so nice at the donation center in Spokane, but she said they couldn’t accept any more hats for a little while,” Parris said. “That’s when we reached out to my niece in Seattle.”
Granddaughter April Wilds lives in the Seattle area and has been taking some of the hats her grandmother makes to shelters, women’s centers and hospitals
“She has always wanted to help,” Parris said.
“I enjoy that,” Aragon agreed.
She has no plans of slowing down. She says she’ll continue her hobby until her last breath.
“Until death do us part,” Aragon said.
“What else can I do?”