Frances Teate, 88: Volunteer in Central America

Luten Teate Jr. was a pediatrician. Frances Teate, his wife, was a dietitian.

The couple wanted their four children to know, and understand, that not everybody lived the good life.

These parents struck upon an idea: Volunteer for Amigos de las Americas, a Houston-based international nonprofit that facilitates health and education projects. On four occasions, the Teates spent time in Guatemala and Honduras helping run rudimentary medical clinics.

For the brothers and sisters, it was a life-changing experience. If not then, then definitely now.

"We were taught how to give injections,"  said son Chip Teate of Decatur. "We passed out toothpaste and taught people how to brush their teeth and about hygiene. My mother would act as a nurse for my father. People would come in with machete wounds, infections -- these were very rural areas with no electricity at the time, unpaved roads and all kinds of things. I thought it was a life-changing experience and I am sure all my siblings would agree."

Well, his sister Susan Sexton of Gainesville does today. But at 14,  her perspective was admittedly selfish.

"I wish I would have been older," she said, "but you know how 14-year-olds are -- into themselves. My mother hoped we'd get a love of giving to others, a knowledge of cultural differences, and a knowledge of the needs that are so far beyond anything we could even comprehend."

On Friday, Frances Lehmann Teate of Stone Mountain and formerly of Tucker, died at her home from pulmonary fibrosis and complications of Type 1 diabetes. She was 88. A memorial service will be at 10 a.m. Friday at Oak Grove United Methodist Church in Decatur. Cremation Society of Georgia is in charge of arrangements.

Mrs. Teate was born in LaGrange, the daughter of the late Frances Storm and Casper Lehmann. She was a 1942  graduate of Georgia State College for Women, where she earned a bachelor's degree in home economics. She became a dietitian, a perfect niche.

"She was an excellent gourmet cook," her son said. "Growing up, she had a box full of recipes that she would look through and try different things on us."

In the mid-1940s, Frances Teate was a dietitian at Emory University Hospital when she met her husband. They married in 1945. They lived in Cincinnati, Philadelphia and Miami before the couple settled in Atlanta.

When she was 40, Mrs. Teate was infected with tuberculosis. She spent months isolated in a sanatorium. She was allowed to return home because her husband was a doctor.  Though released, she remained bedridden for several months. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution wrote a story about her condition.

Mrs. Teate survived tuberculosis, only to be diagnosed with diabetes at 5o. The discovery was made during a family trip to Guatemala.  From then on, she had to check her blood-sugar count six times a day.  She had to inject herself with insulin six times a day.

Through it all, she never complained. Dr. Teate, her husband of 61 years, died in 2006.

"Everybody was not as fortunate as we are -- that's the message my mother and father would impart on us," her son said. "We had a good living and the [volunteerism] was a way of giving back to the world. There was need in America, but not nearly as much."

And while her daughter didn't get it as a self-absorbed teen, the trips to Central America left an imprint. Today, she's a nurse.

"I got more out of it than I realized at the time," her daughter said. "I got a love of medicine, so it most definitely made an impact on me. It was tremendous."