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FIDELIA'S FRUITCAKE
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Open Mon-Sat • mpgreenhouse.com 517-451-0022 • 7722 Britton Hwy, Britton @markprielippgreenhouseandmohr It’s all about the fruitcake, but at the same time, it’s really not about the fruitcake at all.
In November of 1878, Fidelia Bates Ford baked a fruitcake. At the time, fruitcakes were traditionally baked and stored for a year before being eaten. So this cake, baked in 1878 was intended to be eaten on Thanksgiving Day of 1879. One might say that the fruitcake was a forethought to celebration, it was about positivity and hope.
Yet, that wasn’t to be. On May 21, 1879,
Fidelia passed away. Months later, when
Thanksgiving arrived, the family didn’t have
Fidelia to celebrate with them, but they had her fruitcake. “For whatever reason, they decided not to cut the cake,” said
Julie Ford Ruttinger, Fidelia’s great great granddaughter. “And for some reason they decided not to throw it away either.” Instead,
Fidelia’s son Lucius Leroy Ford held onto the cake. It was never cut. It was never eaten. Fidelia’sFruitcake By Sara Hilton
The infamous 142-year-old fruitcake
Morgan Lyman Ford
Fidelia Bates Ford
Julie Ford Ruttinger
When Lucius passed away, the fruitcake went to his son, Lyman Hezekiah Ford, who kept it. It was never cut. It was never eaten. Then when Lyman passed away, the cake traveled to Tecumseh to live with Lyman’s son, Morgan Lyman Ford. There, the fruitcake, sitting on a plate with a glass covering, was set on a high shelf in the china cabinet. Julie is Morgan Lyman Ford’s daughter, and for her entire life, there has been an old, rock hard fruitcake perched on a plate in her mother’s china cabinet. There has always been a fruitcake in Julie’s life.
However, while the story is about the fruitcake, its not really about the fruitcake. “My dad was a great storyteller,” she said. “When I was a kid, I thought it was a funny story he would tell. He used to love to tell the story of his Uncle Amos who came to our house in 1964 to see the cake. Uncle Amos asked my dad if he’d ever tasted the cake. My dad said no. Uncle Amos asked my dad if he could take a bite. My dad said, ‘Well, it’s the family cake. It’s just as much your cake as it is mine, go ahead.’ So Uncle Amos got out his pocket knife and whittled off a little chunk and tasted a piece of 86-year-old cake. That always made my dad laugh.”
As Julie tells her father’s stories she laughs as well. Since her dad passed away seven years ago, she has become what she jokingly says is the fruitcake’s spokesperson. Which isn’t so much of a joke when one considers that this cake has been featured in stories all over the world. Her family and the fruitcake were featured in People Magazine, on the Discovery Channel, and in major newspapers and morning shows. In 2003, Julie wrote to the Jay Leno Show. “At the time, the show regularly featured a funny elderly woman known as the Fruitcake Lady,” she said. “I sent an email that said, you might have the old Fruitcake Lady, but I have the old fruitcake and the old fruitcake man.” The Jay Leno show responded within 24 hours, and her parents and the fruitcake flew to California to be on the show.
“Why do I think there is so much curiosity about it?” asked Julie. “I think one, it’s fruitcake and most people don’t enjoy fruitcake. But it’s also so old. I mean other than Twinkies, who knew a baked good could last 142 years,” she laughs. “The fruitcake gave my dad a lot of fun. As a family we are proud of it. It’s unusual and funny. But I think for my dad, it was a tradition. It was about legacy, something he had from past generations. Those things were very important to dad. He was a fabulous family man.”
As Julie continues to giggle through silly fruitcake stories, it becomes evident that while Fidelia never got to celebrate the fruitcake with her family, her forethought to celebration has become more than she ever could have imagined—it has become a forethought to a celebration that has endured for 142 years.
“Yes, it’s a fun and goofy thing, but I think for me, like my dad, it is about family and tradition and legacy,” said Julie. “Society is getting away from the importance of family. Things like this, this fruitcake, even though it is silly, it works as the connective tissue that keeps newer generations connected to their lineage. It’s connection, that’s what the fruitcake is.”
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