Tali was born in Indianapolis on November 26th, 1924 to Stanley Borreson and Edna Bayer, and spent her early years in a house on a corner in the Irvington section of Indianapolis.

She met her future husband, Ted Lanham, who died six months ago at ninety nine, in the first grade. She had long auburn hair and freckles.

In high school Tali sang in the chorus. She attended college at the University of Cinncinati, working her way through school, and graduating with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology. She sang alto in the choir there, then in the choir at Plymouth Congregational Church in Fort Wayne, on camping trips with the girl scout troops she led, and with family friends the Barretts and the Dustins gathered around campfires or the old upright in the family room. Tali sang and sang through her life. When old age robbed her of her singing voice she never said another word about it.

After college Tali worked three years for Proctor and Gamble, walking door to door in residential neighborhoods interviewing housewives regarding their product use. The job took her all over the United States, a young woman walking up to strangers’ doors and asking questions about laundry detergent and scouring powder. Consistent with her education in sociology, she found the job fascinating. It was key in developing her ability to listen and her ingratiating conversational skills. She married Ted Lanham, who was attending Purdue on the G.I Bill after a tour in World War Two as a flight engineer and top turret gunner on a B17. They moved to Fort Wayne for Ted’s new job at the power company and produced David, a red head from two read heads.

In Fort Wayne Tali was active in the League of Women Voters, Plymouth Congregational Church (“I just like singing in the choir”), and the Girl Scouts. She led girl scout troops for years, patiently guiding packs of pre-teen and teenage girls as they ricocheted down the aluminum 1924 ~ 2025

scarred rocks of the Pine, Au Sable and Manistee rivers each summer.

For years the Lanham family vacationed in Wyoming’s Wind River Range, backpacking with family friends, sometimes up in the mountains for two weeks at a time. At nearly forty years of age, Tali repeatedly packed in with 35 pounds of camping gear and supplies, climbing trails that reached as high as nine thousand feet.

After she took several literature courses at Indiana/Purdue extension in Fort Wayne, the university hired her to teach expository writing. One student evaluation stayed with her for years: “The teacher has oatmeal for brains.” She would quote it occasionally after any error or memory lapse.

Fifty years ago Ted and Tali moved to their 215 acre former farm six miles north of Cedar. She achieved a Master Gardener designation and stoically bore the predations of deer, raccoons, skunks, porcupines, bugs and, well, “everybody” who was hungry. She could find pure joy in a good tomato.

Tali Lanham was one of the founders of the “Walkie Talkies”, the informal walking and skiing group that thrived in Leelanau County for many years. She also ran a tiny little lending library in the former bank building in Cedar. Tali and Ted loved to party on their big old barn porch, hosting decades of get togethers for almost any or just no reason but fun.

Tali and Ted liked to travel. They went to Hong Kong (twice), New Zealand (twice), the Galapagos Islands, the Peruvian amazon, all over Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, the Caribbean and even Grawn.

It bears noting that, while living a busy life, Tali cooked three meals a day, pretty much every day, for almost seventy years. That wasn’t her first choice, but she did it well, and no doubt prolonged her and Ted’s life with excellent, healthy meals.

Ultimately dementia deprived her of even the ability to cook. Her last years were difficult, with escalating health issues and her husband’s decline. She died in her old farmhouse, peacefully, after a very long, interesting life.