For 85-year-old Aubret White, there is no such thing as retirement.
After serving in the Army Air Corps in World War II, in Vietnam as a Navy chaplain, as a full-time pastor in several churches and as director of missions for Autauga Baptist Association, White has settled into a new calling.
He makes fruitcakes.
For the past 10 years, White has made fruitcakes from scratch and given them to members of his church and community and “anyone else who’s interested.”
“I use it as a ministry to greet people and give them a present,” said White, a member of East Memorial Baptist Church, Prattville, in Autauga Association.
White explained that he makes 16 individual loaf cakes at a time and about 100 cakes a year. He freezes the cakes and then thaws them out when it is time to give them away.
Although chopped nuts are available at the local grocer, White doesn’t believe in shortcuts. He gathers, cracks and chops all the nuts for the cakes himself. The candies are also chopped into small pieces by hand. The preparation time is lengthy but, in his opinion, “worthwhile.”
White’s wife, Florence, said that although she enjoys cooking, the fruitcakes are his passion. “To tell you the truth, I don’t know what he puts in them. He mixes and measures everything all himself but they’re always good.”
White fondly remembers the fruitcakes his mother, Amy Catherine Folmar, made for him and his nine siblings. “Perhaps I make them (the fruitcakes) now for the memory of my mother,” he said.
According to longtime friend B.V. Ray, White is “a real good friend who makes a real good fruitcake.”
Ray explained how members of their Sunday School class look forward to the cakes every Christmas.
“Everybody brags about what good fruitcakes he makes. We all love them,” he said.
And White loves making them, his wife said. “He would give away the house if I wasn’t watching him; he’s just that kind of person. Generous.”
Share with others: