Obituary of Lottie Hiatt

Lottie Hiatt, raised as "Ginny" Anthony, slipped away from us and her new home on Sunset Pond in Liberty, NY at sunrise July 31, 2011. It was a perfect summer morning and a beautiful day to travel. She grew up with her three brothers, whom she adored, in Port Huron Michigan on Lake Huron at the Canadian border. From her beginnings in the Roaring 20's, she lived a full and varied life; her mother owned an ice cream shop and her father ran a speak easy. A bit of a tomboy, she was quite an athlete having been recruited by the women's softball league while still in school. She was also an excellent swimmer and captain of her high school basketball team. Lottie always had an adventurous spirit and when WWII broke out, she followed her big brother into the Army Air Corps, serving as a flight line dispatcher at Marana Field, a pilot training base in Arizona. After the war, she met and married Tom Hamway, another Air Corps. veteran (awarded the Silver Star and a Distinguished Flying Cross) and had their son, Ron. However, they parted ways and for a few years she worked back in her hometown of Port Huron as a single mom. Then along came Bill Hiatt, an electrical engineer by education from Colorado and they settled down in the Mohawk Valley in upstate NY, where they raised Ron and had a new child, Doreen. Lottie's was a life of love and service. While she was a stay at home mom, she never just stayed at home. She knew the old truth that, we help ourselves best when we help others. She earned her 40 Year pin from the American Red Cross and consistently volunteered at the VA Hospital in Syracuse. Also, for exemplary service, she was awarded a Lifetime Membership from the American Legion and in 2000 was named RSVP Volunteer of the Year for Oneida County and the City of Utica. Her tremendous energy and interests spilled over into golf, dance, pets and travel. She loved visiting family, friends and new places and her children never knew where she would pop up next; whether out west, down south, anywhere along the eastern seaboard or even the Mediterranean and west Asia. It was hard to keep up with her. A loving soul, she was the kind of person who treated complete strangers like family and they responded accordingly. She had great joy, we think, because she gave so much of it away. Generous almost to a fault, she never worried about keeping possessions. Lottie understood that happiness was an inside job. Happy, feisty, wonderfully impious, enthusiastic, loving, giving and forgiving; we want what she had and couldn't be more grateful that she was in our lives. She leaves behind her son Ron Hiatt and his wife Coleen of Monticello, NY; granddaughters Halley Hiatt of NYC and Jenna Hiatt in the Dominican Republic; and her daughter Doreen Buckner and her husband Curt and granddaughter Ellie of Gilbert, AZ. Also, she leaves many and greatly loved nieces and nephews all over the continental US. Memorial services will be held August 13, 2011 is St. Claire, MI near her beloved Port Huron and interment of her ashes will be in Arlington National Cemetery, VA. Thoughts and sentiments may be sent to Ron Hiatt at PO Box 1177, Monticello, NY 12701 and Doreen Hiatt Buckner at 4538 E. Marshall Ave., Gilbert, AZ 85297 Arrangements by Colonial Memorial Funeral Home. For further information please contact us at www.colonialbryant.com