Lanita Mae Talley ~ November 5, 1953 - July 6, 2022

Nita's Legacy of Love 

Family and friends gathered Saturday to celebrate Nita's Life.

Back in August Deanie and Charlie found this venue to hold the event but their first available date was November 5th. How perfectly perfect since that would have been her 69th birthday.

Deanie and I....

The room filled with lots of family and a like amount of friends.

Andie, Amber, Summer, Deanie, and Trish.

Lonnie and his beautiful wife, Michele.

I think my son Jesse took this photo and he said, "Smile!"

Lonnie said, "I AM smiling!"

That just cracked my son, Benjamin up!

He's laughing so hard!

I didn't take a lot of pictures ......

Amber came with her children and Harrison is posing here with his Aunt Deanie.

So many people came.

Nita's work family (for they were family to her), family friends, her beloved neighbor, Sheryl, people she worked with years ago and so many others. 

Her children and grandchildren and our children and grands plus Deanie's children and grands..

The food was catered and it was all so delicious.

I admired how beautifully it was presented and yet I didn't take any pictures.

Brenda and Billy came and we sat at a table where we could see the entire room and, as I looked out at all the people hugging and talking and, yes, crying some but then laughing, I knew this was the perfect way to celebrate Nita's life. She was THE most hospitable person in the world. She and Mike hosted so many family gatherings and one of the last ones was in March when my Kansas City siblings came down to visit.

There was a slideshow and it held over 700 pictures of Nita.

She was laughing and smiling in all of them.

She loved her job and all the people she worked with. Nita adored her children and her grandchildren and GREAT grandchildren and met the newest one earlier this year.

Nita and Mike traveled and saw lots of the world together. 

Mike was the love of her life and they were so happy together!

We all moved around the room visiting with one and then another and another.

We told stories about Nita and they all told me how blessed they were to have known her and to have been a part of her life. Facebook friend requests were made, phone numbers exchanged so the threads of friendship between the friends of Nita and others will continue.

She would have liked that.

Nita made a difference and she left this world a better place for having lived.

She truly loved people and they all loved her back.

As our time there came to a close, it was just the family and that was fitting.

The family opened the afternoon and closed it - together.

There was quite a bit of food left so I brought some home to take to Kimmy and June.

June fell over a week ago and she is healing up nicely.

Kimmy and I.

They enjoyed their supper of sandwich wraps and cheese and veggies.

Summer and I dropped off some of the wraps off at the Bells and Amber said Logan mentioned right before we got there that she wished she had taken an extra sandwich home with her.

Amber said not to worry - Meemaw is on her way over with more!

By the time I got home to stay it was 8:30 and Summer needed to be at the airport at 4:00 AM!

I went right to bed. It had been a really long day but it was a good one.

I set my alarm for 3:30 AM and since the time changed at 2:00 - we got an extra hour before getting up.

Summer is on her way up to the New England area to meet a friend and drive together back down to Arkansas to the Bar-J Ranch.

Louis Dean and I drove straight home - it only takes about 10 minutes to get to the airport - and we were back in bed and back to sleep.

Last night I put on a long house dress to sleep in and had a hat ready for my head and solid slippers for my feet and a jacket. I didn't even take my make up off when I went to bed.

Alas, while Summer was to fly out at 5:00 - it was 7:00 before the plane left due to mechanical problems.

We slept soundly and when I got up (before Louis Dean) I made a pot of special coffee using the Texas Pecan dear Joni gave me yesterday.

Joni is Nita's sister-in-law from her first marriage and all of our family friend.

Today has been a quiet day and I have spent a good bit of time in prayer and reflecting on life without Nita. She has such enormous influence and was the glue that held us all together.

Nothing ever stays the same and I am grateful for all those Thanksgivings and Christmas mornings we spent together as siblings and extended family. We all treasure every memory we have made with Nita and we did not take those times for granted.

Our siblings trips will continue to be in our hearts and memories and we will continue to hold each other close.

I sometimes go to Nita's Facebook page and scroll down to re read all her posts from this year

She posted this earlier in June.

Without a doubt, Nita loved the Lord and was ready to go to heaven.

We were the ones who weren't ready for her to leave.