Obituary of Lena Mae Austin

Lena Mae Rhodes Austin passed away peacefully from this life February 19, 2021, in Fort Worth, Texas, at Stonegate Nursing Center, at the age of 99. She was born on March 5, 1921, in a log cabin on family property in Murray County near Big Canyon, Oklahoma, to Gladys Griffin Rhodes and John A. Rhodes. Her sister, Grace, was born 3 1/2 years later. At age six, when it came time for Lena to start school, the family moved to Berwyn so she would be closer to school. In 1933 the family moved to Big Canyon and she completed the 8th grade there. Lena graduated from Dougherty High School in 1939 and was the valedictorian. Lena once said, “When I was a child, my mother had four “rules” for us to live by: don’t lie, don’t steal, pay your debts, and treat other people the way you want to be treated. After I was grown, I realized that she had two other rules, especially in the summer: watch out for snakes and don’t pet stray dogs.” She received an Associate’s degree in Education from Murray State College in 1942 and a Bachelor’s degree in Education from East Central State College in 1944 where she was a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Society. To help pay her way through college she worked in the home economics laboratory doing ironing, as well as on the college newspaper at Murray. Her mother laughed when she heard about her job ironing because that had been Lena’s least-liked chore at home. She also worked at Mr. Jones’s café in Ada during the noon hour; in return for working an hour and a half each day, she got a free lunch. After graduating and obtaining her teaching certificate she moved to Oklahoma City and began a 33-year career with the Oklahoma City Public Schools. In 1949 she received her Master’s degree in Education from the University of Oklahoma by going to classes nights and Saturdays. Most of her teaching career was spent in Special Education. Lena married Fred W. Austin in 1947 and put her teaching career on hold for a few years after their daughter, Patty, was born. During these years, she enjoyed cooking and developing recipes. Many of her family and friends well remember her legendary homemade fudge, hotcakes and biscuits! She also enjoyed sewing and made many garments for her family over the years. She had several dogs she loved dearly. Lena was an avid reader and was interested in everything from the comic strips to biographies and historical events. Some of her other joys were genealogy, dancing, singing and working word puzzles, especially cryptograms. A good cup of tea with something sweet to eat was a treat to be savored daily. Blessed with a generous nature, Lena liked to be helpful to others and enjoyed keeping in touch with friends and family. In recent years, doctors, physical therapists and others asked her the secret to her long life and she told them it’s because she walked everywhere when she was young. “That’s the only way we had to get around,” she said. “We just put one foot in front of the other.” She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Grace Rhodes Brewer, an infant sister and an infant brother, Don Kyle Rhodes, as well as her former husband Fred Austin and her step-daughter Sue Bennett. Lena is survived by her daughter Patty Vickers and son-in-law Larry Vickers; granddaughter, Carol Vickers; several generations of nieces and nephews including Merry Hotopp and Russell Brewer and his wife Janet; several generations of cousins; and numerous friends. In accordance with her wishes, Lena’s ashes will be interred in the Drake-Nebo Cemetery, Murray County, Oklahoma.