|
Audrey Sue Mayton was born on December 3, 1937 in, of
all places, Miami Florida. She grew up there with her parents, a
sister, Ginny and two brothers, Walter and Richie.
She became Audrey Sue Robinson on March 23, 1957. She
met her husband, Clarence, when they both worked for Burdines
Department store in downtown Miami. They met during an inventory
night when he was counting, of all things, baby diapers. That should
have been an omen right there, as they raised 6 children, Tom, Karen, Barbara,
Ricky, Mike and Debbie.
She was very active in community affairs and in any
school her children attended. She has received many community
service awards and school awards, particularly from McArthur High
School where she was very active.
As a couple of the older children started getting
near college age she started a wedding cake business out of her home
and quickly became known as just “The Cake Lady”. One Valentines day
week end she actually did 7 wedding cakes.
In 1986 she started to work with the city of Pembroke
Pines and worked for 14 years as an Activities Director for the
Southwest Focal Point Senior center, a job she dearly loved.
In the year 2000 she retired to spend more time with
her grandchildren. About this time she met the Kleinricherts, James
and Mary Ann and became part of the James Jr. Fund and helping them
in “Making a difference in the lives of children.” She just wasn’t
happy unless she was doing ten things at once. She particularly
liked visiting the children at Joe Dimaggio Children’s Hospital.
About four years ago her health started to
deteriorate and it may have slowed her down but it did not stop her.
Despite two TIA strokes, the diabetes, stents in her heart and in
her kidneys, gastroparesis and a heart attack she kept charging.
About this time she found out about the Red Hat Society from her
sister-in-law, Bettye Mayton. When she came home she started her own
Chapter called Carefree Ladies promising her husband she wouldn’t
have more than 10 or 12 ladies. Well, that grew to over 30 and she
started another called Carebears in Red Hats. Shortly after starting her first
group she found out that April 25th was National Red Hat
Day. So in November of 2004 she emailed a few Queens in south
Florida and asked them if they would be interested in attending
something for Red Hat Day. The response was good so she booked a
room at the Signature Grande for 175 people. She set up a Queens
committee and they started to work. By the time April 25th 2005 rolled around 854
ladies in Red Hats and purple outfits showed up. For the past couple of years Red Hatting has been the
love of her life. She loved planning all the events and doing all
the crazy things Red Hatters do. She even took a large group on a
two day bus trip to Mt Dora.
Her body finally had enough and she passed away on
Sunday morning, September 17, 2006. Her body died but we know
she did not. Knowing how outgoing she is, it would not surprise me to
hear that she asked God if she could start a Red Hat Chapter up
there and maybe call it Angels in Red Hats.
|
