Susi Eshchenbach never imagined her hand-stitched cloth made of old sugar and flour sacks would ever be anything more than a table covering.

Today, the tablecloth hangs outside of the Council Chamber. It is in a gold frame on a wall in the Arlington Hall of Mayors. Eshchenbach arrived this week from Bad Königshofen, Germany to see it with her own eyes.

In 1951, Eschenbach’s was only 12 years old and growing up in Germany when her family was the recipient of food supplies and aid shipments from Arlington residents.

Located just west of what had become the border between west and east Germany, Eshchenbach’s town of Königshofen was over populated by hundreds of refugees from the communist east. There was a great shortage of food and clothing. From 1952 to 1954, Arlington sent four shipments of food and clothing.

As a young girl, Eschenbach was accomplished in needlework and perfected decorative stitches and weaving. From old flour and sugar sacks, she made clothing and often gave items as gifts. The material from flour and sugar sacks was strong and durable, she said.

Over many years, Eschenbach was able to keep at least one of her handmade items, a tablecloth. May 2001 marked the 50^th anniversary of the sister city relationship formed between Arlington and Bad Königshofen. As an anniversary present to Arlington, Eschenbach shipped her tablecloth.