“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth” 3 John 4
Lorene Lichty was born on April 3, 1945 to proud parents Oliver and Leah (Martin) Lichty. She joined older sister Dorothy, and the arrival of their younger sister Wilma made the family complete. The Lichty family lived on a family dairy farm outside of Floradale. Lorene attended Floradale Public School for elementary years, and attended Elmira High School for one year. After high school, she began working at Ruggles General Store in Floradale. One day she forgot to set the parking brakes and came out to find the car across the road in the dam.
As a teenager, Lorene was baptized and joined the Markham Mennonite Church. During those years, she caught the attention of a young man from the same church by the name of Cleon Weber. The two hit it off, and a few years later she and Cleon were married on June 30th 1965. After their honeymoon to the west coast, they settled on the Weber home farm outside of Elmira. They began their family with the arrival of Brian, followed by Donald, Douglas, Rodney, Randall, and they finally got their girl with the arrival of Lynette to complete the family. Although busy with raising a young family, Lorene always found time to help milk the cows and help support Cleon with the chores on the farm. As the boys grew up she enjoyed showing them that she could still drive the tractors or combine. She taught her boys to help with the house chores. With five growing boys, they expanded the dairy operation in order to keep everyone busy.
In 1984, the Weber family moved to the Tara area with several other church families, and together, they started the Glad Tidings Mennonite Fellowship Church. Faith was always an important part of Lorene’s life, and she made time with God everyday. Lorene served as a Sunday school teacher and VBS teacher. When Cleon was ordained as a deacon, she supported him and assisted where needed. For the first few years after the move, Lorene hosted many visitors during the week, and on weekends they would see a lot of youth camp out at her place.
Lorene always loved her flowers, vegetable garden and doing crafts to give as gifts to the children’s school teachers. When the children were younger, she made macrame and made candles. Lorene was very artistic, and she was a very particular seamstress. Lorene was an amazing cook and baker. Although she had many recipe books, she always modified the recipe because in her words, “there is no recipe that can’t be improved!”. The boys always enjoyed it when she made a new recipe, and even if the recipe didn’t turn out the way she wanted, they still always made sure to eat it! Most of the events that were hosted at her house were focused around food. Lorene was also looked to for her contributions for the annual bake sale and any time that there was food needed for an event. Lorene and Cleon loved travelling together. They travelled all over the world; Europe, Africa, Guatemala, Alaska, Haiti, Germany, Canary Islands, Greece, and Turkey, sometimes for vacation, sometimes visiting and supporting missionaries.
Family was one of the most important things to Lorene. She faithfully cared for the needs of all of her children, and always cared and supported them throughout every stage in their lives. Lorene loved chatting with her boys. The bond she shared with her children was a special type of love. That love grew even more with the addition of her grandchildren. The boys built a cabin behind Lorene and Cleon’s house, which she referred to as the “little house in the big woods”. She enjoyed watching her grandchildren all play together in the yard and in the cabin, and always made sure to bring them whatever snacks were on sale that week! Lorene always enjoyed the Christmas season, and having everyone over at the house. When the children were younger, she always made the meal herself. As the daughters-in-law started coming around Lorene always had help preparing meals for the holidays. One year for Christmas, the grandchildren all received matching pajamas, and they stayed over for a sleepover, under the dining room table!
Lorene’s journey with dementia was difficult. She could no longer be the hostess that she loved to be. Thank you to all the people who supported her and the family through this time. At the beginning of March of 2024, Lorene had other health challenges and started to decline. Lorene passed away at her home, surrounded by her loving family, on Saturday, April 27, 2024, in her 80th year.
Beloved wife of Cleon Weber for 59 years. Loving mother of Brian (Joyce) Weber of Allenford, Donald Weber of Owen Sound, Douglas (Maria) Weber of Stratford, Rodney (Carolyn) Weber of Allenford, Randall (Marla) Weber of Allenford, and Lynette Weber of Wiarton. She will be missed by 14 grandchildren and 3 great-grandchildren. Dear sister of Wilma (Paul) Bauman, and sister-in-law of Oscar Martin and Amsey (Doris) Weber. Predeceased by her parents Oliver and Leah (Martin) Lichty, parents-in-law Amos and Ida (Diefenbacher) Weber, her sister Dorothy Martin, and her grandson Isaac Weber.
Visitation will be held at Glad Tidings Mennonite Fellowship (54 Park Rd, Tara), where she was a charter member, on Tuesday, April 30, 2024, from 1 – 3 and 6 – 8 p.m. A funeral service will be held at Owen Sound Canadian Reformed Church, (177551 Concession 5, Owen Sound), on Wednesday, May 1, 2024, at 11 a.m. Interment in Hillcrest Cemetery, Tara.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to the Bruce Peninsula Association for Community Living would be appreciated as expressions of sympathy.
