In Memory of my Nanny

ALENE FAY HENSON TIPTON passed on to Heaven on Saturday, Septmeber 22, 2007 after 81 years on Earth. She was an affectionate daughter, a fun-loving sister, a brilliant violinist, a devoted wife, a skilled hairdresser, a doting mother, a fun aunt, a talented embroideress, the best mother-in-law, a true friend, and a warm-hearted grandmother and great-grandmother. I am thankful for every moment I was allowed to spend with her and my PePa. Today, I can look into Nanny's crisp blue eyes in the eyes of my mother and of my daughter, Savanna.

She leaves behind her husband Clyde E. Tipton, "PePa," as he is affectionately called by his grandchildren & great grandchildren; daughter Chris Fowler and her children Carrie, Catherine, & Candace; son Mark Tipton and his children Alicia, Tammie, & Brian; son Colby Tipton, his daughter Tiffany and his wife Terri, their children Brent & Amie; and numerous great grandchildren. I do not know all of their names, but before her mind was ravaged by Alzheimer's, Nanny knew each and every one of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Since I was a very little girl, I got a birthday card from my Nanny every year, and as many grandchildren & great grandchildren as she had, she still sent birthday cards as long as she was able to. She loved her entire family. Nanny's love languages were gifts and service. She showed her love with birthday cards, Christmas presents that she picked out herself, and her delicious down home cooking. Thanksgiving is still one of my favorite times of year, thanks to all the warm childhood memories I have spent at Lake Livingston around family and great food. Some of the best times of my childhood were spent with Nanny & PePa during the summer when Mom & Dad would let me go stay a week or two with them. Nanny would take me with her every time she went to town, and we would either shuck corn or shell peas together in the evenings, whatever was fresh out of PePa's garden. And she made the best jellies and hot sauce from all that fresh produce, but my favorite of all was her dewberry cobbler, fresh from the wild vines. This is how I remember Nanny:

We are blessed to be part of her family and rejoice for her now as she has been freed from her earthly body, and her soul lives on in Heaven. We love you, Nanny. You will live on in our hearts for all our days on Earth, and we will all be together again soon.

Thinking of Nanny brought me to my picture archives as I reflected on Nanny and her life. Forgive me, I might be wrong on some of the dates. Here are some of the pictures I dug up and scanned of this beautiful lady:

Alene Fay Henson, born July 25, 1926; pictured here about 1 yr. old:


I don't know the date of this one, but she looks gorgeous, doesn't she?


October 26, 1948 with daugher, Chris



Clyde and Alene a.k.a PePa & Nanny:


1952. Nanny (26) with Mark (3) and Chris (4), (my mom). Next picture is of PePa with the kids. They must have taken turns taking pictures.



The next 3 photos are from April 1958, Nanny, 31, with her 3 children, her 2nd generation; Colby Lee, Chris Delaine (my mom), and Mark Wynn. I'm guessing it's Easter Sunday since Colby's holding a bunny!




This picture looks like it might be the late 60's or early 70's. Nanny always loved chihuahuas. I wonder if one of these is Sugar.


These next 2 photos are from either late 1973 or early 1974. Nanny, 47, is holding newborn Carrie (me!), and sitting to your left is Alicia who was born August 1973, and Tiffany is to your right. She was born November 1972. Tiffany is Colby's daughter, Alicia is Mark's daughter, and I am Chris's daughter. So Nanny is holding the 3rd generation of her family.



This is Nanny (about 52) and me at her and PePa's house on Madison in Baytown. Before they moved to the Lake we would spend Christmas Day at their house. I'm guessing this is 1978 or '79:



Christmas 1980? This is Nanny (about 54) with me on the right and Catherine on the left. The next pic is of us with PePa.



Nanny's wearing the same shirt here, so it might be from the same night. There's thier Datsun truck in the background. PePa was a loyal Datsun owner until they got bought out by Nissan, and then he switched to Nissan!


That's Catherine on the left, me on the right, and baby Candace is in Nanny's lap. I don't think this is Christmas because we always got dressed up for Christmas, but there is presents and wrapping paper... I'm thinking this might be a double birthday party for Catherine's 4th and Candace's 1st birthday, so probably March 1982:


Christmas 1981 or '82? Nanny with the grandkids at their house on Madison. Uncle Mark is holding somebody's baby doll. From left to right - me, Alicia, Catherine, & Tammie:


Christmas 1983. Nanny holding my sister Candace.

All 9 (living) of Nanny & PePa's grandkids at Christmas 1983. From back left clockwise: Candace, me, Tiffany, Alicia, Amie (in Alicia's lap), Tammie, Brent, Catherine, & Brian.


Going by how old Candace looks here, I'm guessing this is Christmas 1984. L-R: Catherine, baby Candace, & me. Looks like their house in Baytown.


Nanny with Tiffany, not sure of the date.


Nanny with some grandkids in front of their travel trailer at Lake Livingston; from top left clockwise: me, Candace, Alicia, Nanny, Brian, Catherine, & Tammie. Candace looks about 3 or 4, so I would guess 1984 or '85:

Another picture taken the same day with Nanny and PePa:

Here's a couple more pictures from that same day, with Candace and my dad. I think the cat is Stubby; he had a stub for a tail, and he was either Missy's sister or son. They had Missy for a very long time, over 10 years, I think. She was a pretty orange and black calico. Nanny's probably checking Stubby for fleas. She would grab a cat or dog in the evening and sit on the swing and pick the fleas off & kill them - a futile effort since there are so many fleas there, but it seemed like it was relaxing for her.

Dad loved Nanny & PePa like a mom & dad, and they loved him like a son.

My dad passed away 9 years ago. Nanny loved him very much, and I think Dad thought of her like a Mom, too. They are together in Heaven now. We will all be together again someday in Heaven if we believe in God and Jesus as our Lord and Savior. How do I know this?

I Thessalonians 4:13-18

{4:13} And we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning those who are sleeping, so as not to be sorrowful, like these others, who do not have hope.{4:14} For if we believe that Jesus has died and risen again, so also will God bring back with Jesus those who sleep in him.{4:15} For we say this to you, in the Word of the Lord: that we who are alive, who remain until the return of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep.{4:16} For the Lord himself, with a command and with the voice of an Archangel and with a trumpet of God, shall descend from heaven. And the dead, who are in Christ, shall rise up first.{4:17} Next, we who are alive, who are remaining, shall be taken up quickly together with them into the clouds to meet Christ in the air. And in this way, we shall be with the Lord always.{4:18} Therefore, console one another with these words.

If you have any questions about heaven, Randy Alcorn's heaven is a good read.


Thanksgiving dinner 1985. Mmmm... makes me hungry just looking at it! My Nanny could cook...


Christmas 1985 or '86, I believe, at Nanny & PePa's house on Madison in Baytown. This is all of Nanny & PePa's 9 living grandkids - the third generation (Colby & Terri had a son, Jaime I believe was his name, that passed as a newborn. Nanny's probably met him already, I do not know what year he was born). Back to front, left to right - Carrie, Catherine, Tiffany, Alicia, Candace (in Alicia's lap), Tammie, Brian (with the big open mouth smile), Brent, & Amie:


Christmas 1888. Nanny & PePa's 3 kids: Mark, Chris (my mom), & Colby on the gazebo PePa built at Lake Livingston. Those lights stayed on the gazebo year round, but they were only lit up at Christmas!


Thanksgiving 1989 - mmm... that's the bird and Nanny's famous dressin', and the picture below that is my mom with her mom on the couch in the living room of the add-on my PePa built onto their travel trailer (I changed it to black and white because there was an orange hue to it. I must have exposed the film somehow because all the pictures on this roll are like that)...



Christmas 1989. Mom crocheted this blanket; I picked the colors. It was originally supposed to be for me, but once Mom started making it, I didn't care for the color scheme so much. So she gave it to Nanny. I like it now - funny how your tastes change over the years. Mom loved to crochet afghans, and she gave lots of them to Nanny so everyone would have nice warm covers in the winter (no heat!). Nanny probably had over a dozen of them...


Christmas, 1990.



Christmas 1991, I think. Dad is being silly, and I'm wearing a ribbon in my hair like Nanny. Sometimes I would swipe her ribbons!

Nanny liked to wear jingle bells at Christmas (she's Mrs. Claus), and PePa always wears the Santa hat - he passes out the presents. Nanny's next to me, Catherine's behind her, and Colby is to the far right.

Here's all 9 of Nanny's living grandkids on the gazebo, back to front, left to right: Tammie, Alicia, Catherine, Brian, Brent, me, Tiffany, Amie, & Candace.


May 1992. Nanny is in Houston to watch me graduate. She went to all her grandkids' graduations and had our graduation pictures on the wall of their tiny trailer home. Nanny could not fit a lot of pictures on her wall, but she and PePa were very proud when we graduated.


Not sure when this is, but I would guess between '92 & '95. Nanny is in my parents' back yard in Houston when we lived at 8211 Ivan Reid. She looks pretty in that royal blue. Nanny loved to swing. Almost every night at the lake, she would either be on a glider or a swing relaxing after a long day's work - Nanny was a hard worker, either helping PePa with the garden or doing daily housework. It was quite a job keeping the dirt and dust out of a house downwind of a sand bank! So Nanny deserved her relaxing swings at the end of the day...


Probably also between '93 & '95 since Teddy Bear's in the pic (the tiny brown dog). Nanny is holding Shadow, one of her favorite dogs.


May 1995. Nanny is in Houston for Catherine's graduation. From left is me, Candace, Mom, Catherine, Dad, Tiffany, and Nanny. Dan is taking the picture.

Then someone returned the favor and snapped a shot of Dan & me. We had been dating one year.


Late Spring, 1996, I think, because I am holding a picture Dan & I had taken together that I was giving to Nanny (that's Dan's and my legs to the left - I remember that shirt of mine!) It was our engagement picture.


July 27, 1996. Dad giving me away at my wedding; Nanny is watching in the background sitting next to Mark.

Someone switched seats because here's Nanny next to Mom watching with a smile as Dan puts the ring on my finger. I bet Nanny switched seats because she had her own disposable camera taking pictures. Nanny always had her own little camera to take pictures of everything from graduations to weddings to Christmas...

Dan and me with Nanny and Dan's grandmother Betty. Dan's other Granny Mary was still alive then, too, but she was too sick at the time to come to our wedding. My other grandmother wasn't there because she passed when I was an infant. Her name was Fay Aileen. She went by "Aileen." Isn't that such a coinicidence that both my grandmothers had the same names, different spellings? They used to play together when they were kids never knowing they would have a daughter and son who would marry. My mom and dad were both born in 1948, the year Goose Creek, Pelly, and Baytown (the "tri-cities") merged to form Baytown. Dad was born January 1st when it was still Goose Creek, and Mom was born August 11th after it changed to Baytown. They went to the same schools all while they were growing up but never met or knew each other until they were set up by their married friends after Dad got out of the Navy. Our family is full of coincidences like this!


Dec. 14, 1996. My baby shower for Dallas hosted by Mom & Dad's friend Karen Brannon. Nanny is watching me open the present from my Mom; Mom sewed baby blankets for him. This one I'm holding was his favorite.

Here we are playing a game at the shower. That's Nanny's grape soda on the table - Nanny loved her grape soda (and strawberry Crush)! (My sister-in-law Monica & her daughter Sierra are next to me).


Nanny at Christmas with her trademark jingle bell (I don't know what year this is from because she almost always wore a jingle bell:


January 1997. Nanny and PePa meet newborn Dallas, our first baby. These pictures were my pre-scrapbooking days. They were in a photo album Dan's grandmother got for us where you put the pictures inside a big sticky-page. I hope it's acid free; I didn't want to open it and take the pictures out because I wasn't sure if they would stick back, so I just scanned the whole page. Nanny was a scrapbooker before us all. She saved lots of pictures from her childhood and from her own children's childhood and had many albums of the grandkids visiting on holidays also. I loved to look through Nanny's albums, especially when we did it together, and she told me stories about her family. You could tell how much she loved her family by the way she talked about them, especially her Daddy. I wish I could remember all the stories...



April 5, 1997. Alicia's baby shower for her daughter, Kayleigh.


Summer 1997. Me, Nanny, PePa holding Dallas. My mom, Chris, holding Alicia's daughter, Kayleigh.

Uncle Mark; his daughter, Alicia holding her daughter, Kayleigh; my dad, Mike and me holding baby Dallas. Thank you, Alicia & Tammie for giving me these pictures, especially this one with Dad hugging me. I miss him very much, but I know he is happy in Heaven also.


Christmas 1997. Nanny holding her first great grandbaby, Ethan. (She's sitting at the picnic table my dad built for them).


Here's the spread for Christmas 1997, and there I am pregnant with Noah and holding Dallas, the 2nd grandbaby. Once grandbabies started popping up (or out, rather!), Nanny bought gifts for the great grandkids instead of the grandkids. And still, she always bought the presents herself thinking about each kid when she did it. Nanny's presents were always special. Sometimes she even bought them with stamps she saved from the grocery store (Nanny was quite frugal, she never blew money) - like the Samsonite toiletry case she got for Alicia, Tiffany, and me one year. She was very proud to be able to give us that because they were really nice; she saved a lot of stamps! She told us she was giving us the first piece if we ever wanted to add onto it for more luggage (since we were almost old enough to graduate soon). Nanny never put on airs - if she got a good deal on something she told you about it. I think that's where I got that from. When people tell me I have something that looks nice, I always have to say where I got the good deal and how much I paid for it. It's not often people brag about getting something cheap, but Nanny taught me that!


April 1998. Kayleigh's 1st birthday party at Lake Livingston. The babies and toddlers pictured here are Nanny's 4th generation thus far on this date. From left to right back row: Alicia; James who is holding his newborn daughter, Amber, with his wife & my sister, Catherine, who is standing next to him; my mom, Chris, is holding Dan's and my newborn son Noah, Nanny, PePa, and Dan. Sitting on the table left to right: Ethan, my cousin Tiffany's son; Kayleigh, Alicia's daughter; and Dallas. The newborns, Amber and Noah, are 2 weeks apart. I was taking the picture!


Nanny & PePa have lots of great grandbabies. I will try to list them all that I know of in order of their grandchildren:

Colby Lee Tipton with Vicki Hoffpaur (sp?) (div.)
-----Tiffany Tipton m. Dennis Durdin (div.)
. ----- Ethan Kyle and Allison "Allie" Faye Durdin

Colby Lee Tipton m. Terri
-----James "Jaime" Edward Tipton (dec.)
-----Brent Lee Tipton m. Carley (div.)
-----Amie Tipton m. Travis Eiland
. ----- Gracie Claire Eiland

Mark Wynn Tipton m. Margaret Anne Lannou (div. 1996)
-----Alicia Kay Tipton with Bryant Stephens
. ----- Kayleigh Mylnn and Kaylnn Alyse Stephens
-----Tammie Leigh Tipton with Christopher Paul Motley (sep.)
. ----- Krista Paige, Kyleigh Shea, and Kayson Wynn Motley
-----Brian Edward Tipton
. ----- Brianna Tipton, Brooke D'Shea Tipton, Brittany, and Hannah Elizabeth Tipton

Chris Delaine Tipton m. Michael Ray Fowler (dec.)
-----Carrie Lynn Fowler m. Daniel Ray Mays, Jr.
. ----- Dallas Michael, Noah Gabriel, Savanna Rayne, & Bailey Donovan Mays
-----Catherine Michelle Fowler m. James Fuller (div.)
. ----- Amber Nicole Fuller
-----Candace Delaine Fowler with Jody
. ----- Cailey Ray due very soon

This list needs work! I hope to make it more complete.
...it's been updated: Thank you Aunt Terri & Alicia for helping me make this list more accurate & complete.

April 1999. From a scrapbbok page of Noah's 1st birthday party at the lake.


Summer 2001. Nanny & PePa with Dallas & Noah; next pic with Dan and me also.


Here's those pictures on one of my favorite scrapbook pages:


Jan 2004. Visiting Nanny & PePa with Noah & Dallas. I'm pregnant with Savanna here.


October 10, 2004. Savanna meets PePa and then Nanny. Savanna loves them right away (although PePa took his teeth out after this and scared her half to death!)


I love the way Savanna is touching her face.

Savanna listens to Nanny talk to her.




October 11, 2004 with Dallas and Noah on the gazebo at the lake:

I am sorry that I did not get to visit her these last couple of years. I have already grieved for her in my own way, as I was very saddened by how much Alzheimer's had taken away from her. I wish I would have taken Bailey to meet her; I know she would have liked him whether she knew who he was or not. I am so sorry that I let my own selfish sadness stop me from doing that. Alzheimer's is such a mean disease. I am glad for her, that she is free now. I am happy, and I am sad at the same time. I love Nanny. I know she loved me and all her family, even when some went through bad phases. She didn't hold a grudge with the people she loved. She was a special and unique person who gave of herself as long as I knew her. I hope someday my family wants to surround me at Thanksgiving and Christmas and summers the way hers did for her. Nanny was one of a kind...