A Tribute To My Mother

Althea Mae Fuller Lane, it’s a name that brings a smile to everyone who hears that name. All her life she was the one we could count on to be there when we needed her for anything. Whether it was just a shoulder to lean on, money to borrow, a gripe, a bandage or just a hug. She was always there for her family.

Althea had a heart of gold and was very active in her children’s lives. She was there to take Ethel (my oldest sister) and myself to ballet lessons, piano lessons, school plays, graduations, 4H meetings and anything else we happened to be in.

She was a girl scout leader when Ethel and I were in scouts. Not just one of those who is there, but one of those leaders who kept the girls busy earning their badges. And at the end of each scouting year our sashes would be full, but the next year more would be added.

She would take us on picnics at the park and to swimming lessons. She would help out with our school work, even sometimes gathering information for a report so we would have the best report of anyone (but never doing the actual work for us). She always gave us advise on being a good student, never pushy, just encouraging. Always telling us what a good job we did even if it wasn’t the best.

Althea believed in her children. She knew we were "worth" the extra effort. I can never remember my mother having anything "bad" to say about anyone. She was always able to see the good in people and tried to plant this wisdom in her children.

I remember one time mom telling me that she couldn’t find anything in the house to eat. She remembered a couple who owed them some money, so she decided to go to the woman’s house and collect the money so she could buy her children something to eat. Well when she arrived at the woman’s house, a little girl answered the door. The little girl was dirty and the house was a mess. Mom asked the little girl where her mother was. She told her that her mommy was in bed and very sick. Mom went in cleaned the house, cleaned up the kids and fixed them something to eat. Mom said she then went home (without the money) and found all kinds of things to fix to eat. Oh yes, she also wanted me to tell you she also fixed a dessert. She made Vinegar Pie. Now to me, that sounds absolutely awful, but she said it was very good and kind of has the consistency of a pecan pie. She handed the recipe down to me, and someday when I get "brave" enough I am going to make it and see just what it tastes like. She never did collect the money and never cared. Here are two different Vinegar Pie Recipes:

(Mom said the #1 is the one she used)

#1

2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup vinegar (cider kind)

1 cup sugar

3 T. flour (or equivalent in corn starch)

3 eggs (separated)

1 t. lemon flavoring (mom thinks she omitted this)

1/3 t. salt

3 T. sugar

Beat egg yolks until thick. Add 1 c. sugar, flour and salt. Mix thoroughly. Add boiling water slowly, stirring constantly. Add vinegar. Cook over hot water until thick and smooth. Add salt and lemon. Pour into baked pastry shell. Cover with meringue made of egg whites and 3 T. sugar. Bake in slow oven (325) twenty minutes. Cool and serve.

This next one (#2) is one she said her sister-in-law used and was not nearly as good)

#2

½ cup sugar

3 eggs

1 T. butter

2 T. vinegar

½ cup water

2 T. corn starch

1 t. nutmeg

Beat eggs add butter and sugar, vinegar, water, cornstarch and nutmeg. Stir well. Cook on top of stove until thickened then pour into baked pie shell. (As you can see this one does not have a topping)

If you get brave enough to try these I hope you enjoy them and then you could let me know if I should try one of them also. My mother swears it was very good and that my sister and I loved it, too.

Mom was always taking in other people kids when they needed a place to stay. Money was tight and there wasn’t much extra, but she would see to it that these kids had a winter coat and some descent clothes to wear if they didn’t have any. I have lost track of the number of extra kids that lived in our house at one time or another. But I do know that for some of those kids she made a difference in their lives. And I hope that any of them who may someday read this will remember her with a smile.

If ever a woman should have been presented with a "Mother of the Year" award, it should have been her. But the happiness she brought was award enough for her. She was always "famous" for her phrase "that’s not necessary". When we would give her something out of the ordinary that old phrase would be repeated. But of course, like most people she loved everything she was given.

Since there wasn’t much money we sometimes gave her homemade cards and gifts. While going through her things we found most of those little cards and gifts in her stuff. It brought tears to my eyes to see that she had saved all the things we made for her.

Althea was a daughter that any parent would loved to have had. She was the one who would go out to the shop and help her father work on engines in cars and trucks. She grew up with a good knowledge of mechanics and did a lot of the work on her own cars. She always said if she waited for dad to do it she would be walking. (Of course, she was joking, or was she?). That’s one thing I will forever remember about her was her sense of humor. She could take a joke with the best of them. One time, after I was married with children of my own, my kids and I accompanied her and my little sisters on a trip to Trinidad, Colo. My sister Cathy was always teasing my first born. So while we were on this trip I decided to tease her. I told mom I was putting this fake spider (the one Cathy loved to tease my baby with) in the window of the camper and was going to scare Cathy. Well mom was fixing breakfast and Cathy and I were sitting at the camper table. I "looked" out the window and told Cathy to have a look, there was a puppy out there. Well now Cathy loved animals so, of course, she pulled the curtain back and started to have a look, and of course, the fake spider fell right in her face. She screamed and mom, holding a skillet, screamed and was jumping around and said "What’s wrong!!!!" She had forgotten what I had done and it scared her nearly to death. She thought Cathy was hurt. Well I was laughing myself silly with tears rolling down my face. The look on both their faces would have been great on "America’s Funniest Home Videos". I laugh again now as I remember this. And after that Cathy never teased my baby anymore.

Mom loved camping more than anything else. She always said she wished she had the money to just travel around and camp anywhere and everywhere after she retired. Well that was never possible, but she did the next best thing. She would take her little camper and go to nearby lakes and other camping places near by and camp out. Most of the time she took her best friend Rosie with her. Sometimes one of us would take our tent or camper and join her if we could. She did all the cooking outside because she said cooking inside the camper just wasn’t camping. Sometimes she would just take her tent and camp out. Rosie and her made a carpeted floor for the tent so the ground wouldn’t feel so cold. She also had everything in her van for camping out, too. Now get this, she never had to switch anything from the camper or the tent supplies to camp out because she had THREE complete sets of camping gear. Now that is a dedicated camper if ever I saw one.

After she retired, for exercise, her and Rosie would pick up aluminum cans on the roadway. Then they hit on the idea of using the money for the cans to pay for their camping. Sometimes they would have a "going out to eat party" with the money. That way she got to do some of the things she loved so much.

Well times change and mom grew too "feeble" (as she called it) to use the tent anymore or the camper. So she sold the camper and gave the tent to Cathy. But she still held on to the camping kit in the van. (Just in case she got somewhere and someone wanted to have a picnic) Then my baby sister, Gayl, and her husband bought one of those up to date campers, with the microwave and everything. So they would take mom to places to camp. Of course, she said it wasn’t camping, but loved every minute of it.

There are just so many stories I could tell you about my mother, but it would probably be like the people who make you sit down and watch hours of their home movies. (You know, the ones where you don’t even know who the people in them are) But to me I had THE GREATEST MOM IN THE WHOLE WORLD.

On April 4, 2000, mom found out she had small cell lung cancer in the left lung and the bronchial tubes. She refused to take the Chemo they suggested, because she didn’t want to be sick for the remaining days of her life. She wanted to enjoy what time was left with her children and friends. Then three weeks after finding out about the cancer she got another blow. She had an aneurism in her brain. But still she kept on going. Always making light of the whole situation. Her spirits stayed good to the end. She was ready to go home to the Lord. When asked if she was depressed about her condition her answer was "Why would I be depressed about something I can’t change. I just worry that you kids worry to much. I am not afraid to die because I have lived and good and long life and have 4 healthy children left. (The oldest being killed in a car wreck back in 1978) And I worry about all that you kids have to do after I’m gone, and just hope that I have everything in order for you. Those that worry about dying is because they know they aren’t ready in the eyes of God." Now this was my mother always worrying about how things would effect other people.

As far as I’m concerned there will never be an end to my mother’s story. She will always be remembered in our hearts as the Best Mom of the this century and the last one. We love you mom and know that you are still up there taking care of us.

Below are just a couple of poems I found that I wanted to dedicate to my wonderful mother:

I Believe In You

Our dear mother left us on July 27, 2000. She suffered so much with the cancer, but never stopped worrying about her family and best friend. Always concerned that we wouldn’t be able to handle her leaving us. But I know that it will seem like the blink of an eye when we can see her again in heaven. Her memory will live on forever in our hearts. And we want to take this time to thank God for sending us the best mother in the world to raise us to the best of her ability. Now she is home with the Lord and no longer suffering. Thank you God for our Mother.

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