Calkins: It was just an unfinished knitting project. Here’s why it brought them to tears.
Debbie Duncan (left) and Lisa Hiatt-Todd at West Cancer Clinic's Germantown location Nov. 19, 2025. (Patrick Lantrip/The Daily Memphian)
Geoff Calkins
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
The shawl was pink.
Kate Hiatt promised her daughter, Lisa Hiatt-Todd, that she would knit her a shawl for cold days.
Hiatt was a splendid knitter. She could knit anything. But she got particular joy out of knitting shawls for patients at West Cancer Center, where Hiatt-Todd is director of laboratory services.
“My father used to tease her,” said Hiatt-Todd. “When she was really focused on her knitting, her toes would get going. They laughed about that.”
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