Breast Cancer & The Little Pink Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine
Breast cancer research takes the help of people like you and I. What is the pink featherweight I guess I can safely say it is a symbol of what I perceive to be a way for me to help in the fight of breast cancer. We have a great Featherweight repaint shop we decided to use that uses the same process we were going to use repainting our macines. I want to thank a great person for this repainting job and give them all the credit at this time for helping on this project as he also had a person with breast cancer in his family.
I do not want the memory of a great sister to die, she is gone now and has been since the late 70’s and I hope I can make her memory live on and put her name on every little pink featherweight that I reclaim from the ranks of the distroy pile or one that has had lots of use and just needs the touch of love by someone who cares.
Breast Cancer became real for me in 1975 when my sister found a lump in her breast. She trusted me and asked me questions about things because I had been out in the world so to speak, even though she was a year older than I was. I just left home at an early age and went on my own. I joined the service in 1963 and was there for 4 years. I had been through 1 divorce and I had traveled. I was not afraid of anything and she felt she could ask me things to help her solve problems. She had asked me about the lump, at that time breast cancer was not a house hold name. I really did not know much about the subject. I did give her an answer though, I said the lump was probably a strain or maybe she had hit something and it would probably go away. Well it didn’t and she said it was getting larger a few months later. She asked if I thought she should have it checked. Now by that time they had been talking more and more about breast cancer or I had just started noticing the news more on the subject. Breast cancer awareness was being talked about. She decided to wait until her insurance kicked in and there was no question about whether it would pay for her problem and her life insurance would pay for her house if she didn’t make it. She waited for a few more months and it started to grow and leak. She asked my wife to take a look at it, when she did my wife said you have to get in right away and have a doctor look at that. Her breast had orange peal look to it and at that point had a huge lump. She went to the doctor and of course he told her that she needed to have that removed right away. They removed it and started giving her radiation treatments and Kemo. She had some good days and some bad days for about 2 years and then she started getting really sick. I almost did not recognize her when I came to visit her, which I almost could not do. Seeing her go from a beautiful young women to a sick, week lady was about to kill me. I regret to this day for not spending more time with her in her last days. After she died I was so hurt for 2 years and my life was like it was in limbo. It took me a long time to get over her death. She had 4 great kids and they came to live with us about a year after her death. Their father committed suicide in there garage a year after her death. The kids and our family got along as good as could be expected with all of the things going on in all of our lives. Now it is 2006 and all is well with all of the kids, my wife and I. We have 15 grand children and I have 1 great grandchild. Her children are all doing well and live all over the US. I wanted to do something in her honor and all of the other wonderful young women I have known with that terrible disease who have lost their life at a young age. I have always help support the breast cancer cause. Mostly when we hold waffle feeds at our retirement communities with the proceeds going to the Susan G. Koman breast cancer foundation. I wanted to do more and I came up with the idea of the Little Pink Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine for my fight of breast cancer. I am going to contribute a portion of each sale of these little wonders to that cause. The awareness comes in from the people in quilters culbs, sewing teachers, crafts makers and collectors that purchase and talk about there little pink singer featherweight sewing machine.
Who are the bravest people in the world, I think I know after witnessing a person that I know to be one of the bravest people I had the honor of ever knowing, my sister Sheryl Lynn Oshel.
The crime was theft and it had taken the perfect sister at the age of thirty three. If you have gone through the loss of a person in your life that you loved and respected a great deal, do to breast cancer, you will relate to this effort and to the Little Pink Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine. I have a website called www.singerfeatherweightpink.com where you can find the Little Pink Singer Sewing Machine. I will also sell it on eBay and if you go to eBay and read my about me page you will discover I am just an ordinary person trying to make a difference in our great society. Visit my website and feel free to look at my ads that interest you from that site. It pays me every time someone clicks on one of my ads and that will help keep my site growing.
This story is of a great sister and the reason why I am buying up all of the Singer featherweight sewing machines that have got real bad scratches and corrosion. I will not destroy one of these little collector sewing machines. I am rebuilding them and selling them with 25% of the sale price going to the fight on breast cancer.
It started with a friend of mine who actually collected featherweights as a hobby, in fact she collected different kinds of sewing machines. She at one time had a collection of around 200 sewing machines. She is an antique doll collector and has been an author of several books. She is a wonderful lady that is very knowledgeable about many subjects, one of them being the featherweight. She has several models like the little child’s singer sewing machine, the 24-66 chain stitch, on to the 221’s, 222’s, 301’s and so on.
Why is this done?
Where do I fit into the breast cancer, pink featherweight project. I reclaim this sewing machine in the name of my sister Sheryl Lynn. My father was a sewing machine man all of his life. He worked for several dealers including Singer where he was a top salesman for years. He also was one of the best repairmen in the business and I went with him from the time I was old enough to walk. We would go into a small town to repair ladies sewing machines back in the early 1950’s and as we repaired one they would call their friends to let them know there was a sewing machine man in town. In the meanwhile we sold a few machines by word of mouth. Well when I was about four years old dad would bring home old sewing machines for me to take apartment and put back together. I guess I thought they were toys and got pretty good at fixing them. When I was in middle school I would work in the evening in the repair department of an appliance store doing repairs on sewing machines like Singer, Necchi, Elna, Pfaff, Viking, Brother, White, Sear Kenmore and a host of other brands.
So why reclaim the Singer Featherweight and make it even more collectible. The Singer featherweight is the most versatile small sewing machines in a light weight portable on the market today. It first appeared on October 3, 1933 and was still being made up in to the late 60’s a run of about 35 years. They have sold more of these little cuties than any other models of the Singer. They not only sew a great straight stitch, but do it quietly, with very little maintenance. They are light weight to carry around and small enough to put in your car for taking to school, sewing clubs, collector’s shows or just take to a friends house to sew. Doll collectors, quilters, and sewing machine collectors love this little featherweight because it can be traced by its original serial numbers that verifies its origin. I am here to reclaim the cosmetics of the featherweight that has been setting where there has been moister present causing corrosion and there are also cases where the machines have just been scratched all up and needs a face lift. I also know more about the running and stitch of these little machines than others in the sewing machine industry. If you buy one of these Little Pink Singer Featherweight Sewing Machines you are going to get a sewing machine that has a guarantee to sew great and be almost like it came from the factory. Of course if the model has a very unique serial number we would leave it all original even though it was scratched up. If you have one of these in poor condition we will be happy to buy it to fix-up and make it look like knew again. Just email me at bobbyoshel@aol.com and let me know how much you are asking or if you want to contribute it for sale and 25% going to the breast cancer fund send it to this address.
Bob Oshel
1802 N. 177th St.
Omaha NE. 68118
I am going to take the Singer Featherweight and paint it pink with a signature of Sheryl Lynn and a collector number on it to validate it. It will of course have the original serial number on it to show the original date and place the machine was made. By this we can validate that they are the Sheryl Lynn and originally repainted for the breast cancer research as a collector model. You will be given a story of what we know about the sewing machine if we get it from the original owner. You will get a copy of this story and a great thanks from us, the Susan G Koman breast cancer foundation and any other cancer foundation the money is given to. You will also get a certificate of authenticity and I am not sure how many of these machine will be the final number of the Sheryl Lynn collection at this time. As I start this project that number will given out.
This is a story about the love between a sister and a brother. Sheryl Lynn Oshel and Bobby Oshel. She was the little smiling face girl that everyone loved, the person that would do anything for anyone. Sheryl Lynn had more friends by accident than most people have on purpose. She would do things, others just talked about and do them with perfection. In fact if she could not do them with perfection I would have a hard time convincing her to do it at all.
The rest of the story begins in a little town in Kansas called Hays at a hospital in the early part of the year 1945. She was moved around for her first 6 or so years. Her father in the army and mother a young woman working to help the war effort. Sheryl started school in Valley, NE and quickly moved to a small town in central Nebraska called Rockville. She went to about the 6th grade and was in plays, majorettes and band. She was on TV several times with 4-H and other things like the Harvest of Harmony Parade in Grand Island, NE. She then moved to Blair for a few years. Finally ending up her schooling in Fremont, NE. and there she lived until she married in 1962. I was young and trying to figure out where I fit in the picture of this world. Her and her husband and moved to western Nebraska and worked for ranchers after getting married. As a young man I followed them to the ranch to work. I then went to the service when Vietnam was heating up and spent the next 4 years serving Uncle Sam. She had several other children in western Nebraska and then moved Indiana where her husband was from. When I got out of the service I went to live with them and I went to work for an Independent Singer dealer called Benell Singer of Monticello, Indiana. She and her family moved back to Nebraska and her husband worked for the Department of Utilities. That was where she became ill and found a lump in her breast. This is for my sister who lost her struggle with breast cancer in the 1970’s shortly after my son turned 4 years old. In honor and memory of Sheryl Lynn (Oshel) Shelton born February 22, 1945 died 1978 leaving a husband and 4 children. Her family was lost from the death of their mother and wife. They were trying to recoup by buying a new house and moving to another part of town. They went through a year of hell and then losing their father with him taking his life in his garage in the new home. She told me one time that she supposed that they will find a cure about ten years after her death and that search is still going on almost 30 years later. They have made some great progress in the early detection but have not yet found a complete cure. I am starting this project to continue the struggle she left when she passed away. We will try to make a difference to all of the other young women out there that are struggling with and overcoming this terrible disease.
How is it done
We take a little Singer featherweight that is showing corrosion or very badly scratched and strip it down to bare metal. This process takes us about a day and it is messy but worth the trouble. It looks like a new little machine after we start the process of painting. Oh did I mention that I had a 6 stall body shop in MN for a few years. That gave me the expertise to paint and the knowledge of what process to follow to reclaim this small little wonderful sewing machine. Then we put on the pink and that takes us 2 or three coats. We get the striping from an eBay auction which we found and made us further want to start this project. The stripes are applied and the signature of Sheryl Lynn by proxy namely me, along with a collector number for validation. Then we put some clear coats of paint on for a final finish and you have a “Little Pink Singer Featherweight Sewing Machine Called Sheryl Lynn Number # “. Signed, sealed and numbered along with this letter of authenticity to keep with the machine. This will serve as reminder knowing you have helped in the fight of breast cancer. You will also get the best little Singer featherweight to use and make clothes, or mend with you could ever ask for. Professionally rebuilt by a Singer sewing machine man with years of experience in the rebuilding, sales and repair of one of these beautiful little sewing machines.
I tried not to make this story to long but I wanted to let people know just what a great sister I had and that I loved her to a point that I was willing to do almost anything for her. I can’t bring her back but her memory will live on with each note that comes with one of these “Little Pink Singer Featherweight Sewing Machines Called Sheryl Lynn”.
30 Years Later and Dealing with Breast Cancer Again
Date 11-25-2007
Today I start on a new reason for working on this worth while project. My daughter just 31 years old is dealing with this terrible problem. She has just went through and operation and now she is in her forth treatment on chemo. She is dealing with this in a very positive frame of mind. She has three wonderful little boys the youngest is not 2 years old yet. That helps to keep her mind off what she has just gone through. I feel gutless compared to anyone that is dealing with this in their life. It is important to remember that the young women with this problem are taking care of a family and working, all while getting chemo, loosing their hair, being tired, dealing with holidays and dealing with the emotional aspects of breast removal. How do you ever help someone like this. Well it seems that there are some great people left in the world yet. Her neighborhood brought over the evening meal for several weeks and help get the kids to school. One of the neighbors took over the fundraiser my daughter was doing for a playground at the school her son attends. What a wonderful place for her to live, in an around neighbors like these. If anyone reads this part of my website and have the time you might drop her a line to let her know she is in your prayers and if you have had this same problem let her know that your supporting her. Cards are nice if you have one around. I will thank you in advance
What has happened in the last 30 years, I think some progress in medicine has made treatment a lot better. Still we are looking at early detection as the most important number one way to beat this problem. It is alarming how many young ladies are diagnosed with breast cancer today. What is the answer to the cure, I am hoping that more people join the fight to find a way to help all ladies with this.
Bob Oshel
Date 5/19/2022
This is a new update on things in my life. My daughter lost her battle with cancer on May10, 2021 I will update this site in a the near future.
Date 6/23/22
Sorry I have not been active in the Singer Featherweight Pink project for about 2 years because I have been helping my daughter for a long period and glad I had time with her while she was the sickest. I am now starting back on the the work of the Singer Featherweight Pink project.
