Peggy (Lane) Heath - Grit, Sas, Love of fun and ....

Peggy, Earlene, and Opal Lane 

Glen Campbell never knew what grit was compared to Aunt Peggy.  If you don't know or didn't know Peggy Heath she was one of the Lane sisters and for you Shidler and Grainola folks she is Gladys Snyder and Opal Olson's (mom) sister.  Jim and Clarissa Heath also claimed her as their aunt.  We shared Uncle Bill and Aunt Peggy proudly as they were probably the smartest and most fun loving family there ever was.  They had three delightful kids Kathy, Marie and Joe.  Kathy was a little older and a lot more serious and probably the most talented.  Marie was the prettiest red head ever and she doesn't even know it but she actually gave me confidence when I was a kid just because of nice things she said.  Joe was an absolute hoot as he was full of energy and always looking for something to do.

Aunt Peggy is probably the most fun filled person you have ever met.  She is also the one person who never had a thought that ever went unspoken.  If you did not want her opinion or thoughts on the matter your only choice was to not be around.  Her outspokenness broke me of a few bad habits.  The first one I remember was I had a bad habit of saying, "you know".  Well every summer I use to go over to Ponca and stay with them for a week out on Ranch Drive.  We were downtown shopping and I think it was at the Anthony store when I used my phrase one too many times and Aunt Peggy said out-loud so everyone could here, "YOU KNOW, well what the hell do you know?  If you can't keep from saying YOU KNOW then keep your damn mouth shut".  That was the last time I said, "you know".   She taught you to think about what you said and did but she loved you like no other.

Let's talk about the funner stuff.  She could think of things to do faster than you could get bored.  She sent Joe and I out to the orchard to pick up all the fallen fruit.  She just did not want it out there stinking and drawing flies so she wanted it picked up.  Well Joe and I got into a rotten peach and apricot fight.  Joe was really fast and a few years older and he polished me with those rotten fruits.  I stunk and I was a mess.  The cool thing about Aunt Peggy is she would just laugh and tell us to change clothes at which point she would send us out again  To no avail I got punished again and again and she never got mad.  She let us play in the rain when the bar ditches were full of water and when there just was not anything else to do she would bring out the cards and games and play with you all through the evening.  When Uncle Bill Heath (Jack Heath's brother) got home from Conoco he would sit right down and play with us.  I don't know how she did it but she always had something for us to eat and she was a great cook.  My favorite was her cinnamon rolls.

A little side story about her cinnamon rolls.  Any time I could I would stop by and see her and Uncle Bill and she always seemed to have cinnamon rolls.  She accused me of smelling them and showing up at the right time.  She would make pans and pans of them and she would always send one of the big pans home with me.  I remember one of the first times she sent a pan, one of the large pans, full of cinnamon rolls with me and by the time I got to Yukon they were all gone.  I never told anyone.  I only got down to Mathis, Texas where they lived most of the time after Uncle Bill retired but every time she would pull out the cinnamon rolls and I would over indulge.  Heaven on earth.  Did you know in Heaven there is gonna be cinnamon rolls and chili?  That is a fact.  Anyway Aunt Peggy was a great cook.

Another thing she did was she could fish like no other except maybe Uncle Bill.  They both would sit for hours showing you how to fish and showing you how to catch.  They loved to fish and they loved to spend time with their kids and nieces and nephews.  Another thing they did was they purchased a go-cart which they let us ride for hours through the orchard.  I think we did have a seat belt but I don't believe we had helmets in those days although we did have a lot of crashes.

One of my other favorite stories was when Shouna and I went to see them in Ponca and it was either the Christmas holidays or New Years Eve and we sat and played cards and ate and come about 11 P.M. she decided to liven things up by making strawberry daiquiris.  Now Shouna and I never drank so Aunt Peggy made some virgin strawberry daiquiris, or at least that is what we thought.  You gotta know that Shouna loves virgin strawberry daiquiris and virgin pina caladas.  Somewhere around midnight Shouna was laughing up a storm at about everything that was said.  I have to say we howled that night with laughter.  Aunt Peggy just laughed herself silly that night watching us drink those spiked drinks.

There are way too many stories to tell in one sitting but I just cannot go without telling you just how smart and talented she was.  Mom said Aunt Peggy never showed much interest in school as far as she remembered but mom said that the basketball coach said if you made Aunt Peggy mad she was the best basketball player around.  The other thing about Aunt Peggy that was so amazing is she absolutely remembered every detail about everybody she was around including their phone numbers.  She never looked up phone numbers because she knew them immediately.  She was also incredible at puzzles and games where she could out strategize anyone.  If you knew Uncle Bill you would say those two were made for each other.  Both were brilliant and quick witted.  Uncle Bill had the patience of Job and Aunt Peggy had a short fuse but they shared a love for all of us kids that could never be replaced.

It is the memories of their generosity and the time they spent investing in us that lives on in our lives.  I would have to say those two influenced my life in many ways including my career which was inspired by Uncle Bill and my love of games and competition inspired by Aunt Peggy.  Did I mention that Aunt Peggy worked for the FBI in D.C.?

And one last thing that Aunt Peggy did for me.  When I was growing physically so fast that my underwear was too tight Aunt Peggy was the one who suggested in a loud voice that I should stop picking my underwear out of my crack while in the store!  Come to think of it that was the last time I performed that act.

So what do you learn in the Osage?

• People can get rid of bad habits, get it?
• Invest in young folks by spending time and teaching them games, puzzles and how to have a good time
• If you spend a little time with some older folks you will not only learn about our/your history but you will grow to appreciate what you have and not what you don't have.

Thanks for your time,

gary@thepioneerman.com

thepioneerman.blogspot.com

Aunt Peggy was sister to Gladys Snyder, Opal Olson (mom), Maggie McDonald, Gladys Snyder (Shidler teacher), Earlene Patterson, Don Lane and Bill Lane.  If you ever wanted to have a great time you should have seen these sisters get together.  No disrespect for Uncle Don and Uncle Bill but those girls could whip any gang and they could definately out master the spoken word in any confrontation.