Mae Alstatt

MAE (McDONALD) ALSTATT Mae was born in Randolph, Nebraska on November 22, 1919. She is the daughter of James Howard McDonald and Elizabeth (Bock) McDonald, and brother of James (deceased). The family migrated to Sterling Colorado in her elementary years (probably 1926) where she graduated from high school in 1939. She continued her education at secretarial school in Denver and joined MGM Movie Distributors in 1943. The MGM offices were located in downtown Denver at 21st and Broadway. The office distributed movies to local theatres; and the perks that went along with the job were free screenings of new movies, and free & discounted passes to current running movies. She and her family attended many of them. On one vacation in the late 50's or early 60's she, Rolland & Larry were able to tour the MGM studios in Los Angeles, and were able to watch part of the filming of an episode of the Thin Man TV series that starred Peter Lawford. Her career at MGM lasted until 1970 when the Denver office closed. Mae met her husband (Rolland) at a Great Council Lodge meeting, (she was in the Pocahontas and he was in the Redmen). They were married in Denver on June 9th, 1946 and they would have celebrated their 62nd anniversary this coming Monday. Many of you attended their 50th wedding celebration (which seems like yesterday). In their almost 62 years together they continued their involvement in the lodge with many social events and trips to vacation spots throughout the United States and Canada. Mae loved to cook (and she did an excellent job of it) and had many family dinners with her mother – her brother, and Rolland's family. When the Holidays rolled around there were the usual family dinners with only one little boy for all those grandmas to spoil. Mae and Rolland's son Larry was born June 7, 1947. Larry remembers some great road trips, including Disneyland, baseball stadiums, and even a World Series. In the mid 70's Larry started working in ticket sales and in situations where he managed he would hire mom for part time help at different events. Some of those were the Ice Capades, Central City Opera, Truck Pulls, The Colorado High School State Basketball and Wrestling Tournaments. For 20 out of 21 years beginning with the 1981 Show, Larry or Linda (Larry's wife) managed the National Western Stock Show tickets, and Mae worked all of those shows. Mae learned how to sell tickets; run a computer (not very happily); and she loved to keep the books and count the money. Now Larry loved to tease her. When she worked the stock show she liked to keep her desk in pristine condition so when she would leave at approximately 4 to 5PM she would have her desk organized, and every night Larry littered her desk with drink cups (half full of course) and lots of trash. And in the morning we would hear – L A R R R Y !!! Or he would take something off her desk and she would spend time looking for it until she figured Larry did something with it, and then we would hear her scream for Larry again. This went on everyday, and when she was leaving at night she would tell him ""I better not find anything on my desk tomorrow"". That was Larry's permission to do whatever. Larry married Linda in 1974 and took full responsibility for her 3 children. The children have multiplied in the next years and have given Mae 12 Grand children. Mae kept a calendar with all the grandchildren's birthdays. Linda took over the family dinners, but Mae always brought a special dish (usually what her son wanted). Mae was a very special mother-in-law and never tried to force her opinions on her daughter-in-law. She liked to share her recipes, and was always available to teach knitting or crocheting. She wanted to help, whether it was just a picnic or a full blown dinner. We really will miss her. (If there is anyone who would like to share their feelings about Mae, please feel free to speak.) Thank you all for coming to celebrate Mae's life. There will be a small lunch to follow here. We will be going to Ft. Logan for the final resting ceremony beginning at 2PM. Maps to Ft. Logan are available.