Lorene Allie Richter Hyatt, 96, of Hanceville passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2022, at Cullman Regional Medical Center. She was born March 4, 1926.
She is survived by her brother, Louie William Richter; nieces and nephews, Jerry (Dixie) Richter, Greg (Laura Axelrod) Richter, Jeff Richter and Regena Richter and a host of great nieces, great nephews, other family and friends.
She was preceded in death by her parents, William E. and Anna Belle Gilbert Richter; her husband, Athol James Hyatt; sisters, Alma Rhinehardt and Isabelle Marie Graf and a brother, Charles William Earnest Richter.
The family will receive friends on Friday, Dec. 2, 2022, from 10-11 a.m. at St. John’s Evangelical Protestant Church. The funeral service will begin at 11 a.m. with the Rev. Dr. John Richter officiating. Burial will follow in Cullman City Cemetery.ob
The granddaughter of German immigrants, Lorene stubbornly refused to die from scarlet fever as a small child and lived a long, full life her own way, accepting changes she saw in almost a century of living, and having hatred for no one.
She lived up to all our expectations of living life to the fullest to the very end. She drove herself to the dentist just hours before her stroke.
Lorene worked in the banking industry her entire career, beginning at Parker Bank in Cullman. She moved to Huntsville when her husband, Athol, took a job with the Forestry Service and secured a job as teller at First National Bank of Huntsville. Before she retired at that bank decades later it would become part of the First Alabama Bank system which is now Regions Bank.
When Athol became sick and had to leave his job because his mind would no longer allow him to be his full self, she made sure to keep him at home as long as possible. When he reached the point that assistance was needed, she left straight from her job on Friday afternoon to pick him up from the VA hospital in Tuscaloosa to bring him home for the weekend and got him back late Sunday evening.
She was always classy and could be sassy. She had love and acceptance for all. This included not only her family, but the whole human family, and the only people who might be in danger of her wrath were those who didn’t treat others according to the Golden Rule as she herself did.
Whether it was helping out a relative in need or standing up for black co-workers in her office, there are dozens of stories of her love and concern.
She was quick to help and quick to forgive and would advise you not to give up on yourself or on others when you were at your last rope.
Lorene and Athol wanted to adopt a child, but the State of Alabama made it difficult for older couples at the time. So, she adopted nieces, nephews, neighbors and friends made everywhere she went.
She never got old; old age just finally got her.
As she passes into Christ’s Eternal Kingdom, please remember her for all her kindness, German stubbornness and genuine love for family, humanity, her seemingly endless collection of frogs and her beloved Auburn Tigers.
