A Community Moment: Lincoln County Asked to Rally for a Local Grandmother

LINCOLN COUNTY, Mo. — DeAnna “Dede” Tredway — known to many simply as Dede — is a Winfield woman who has spent her life showing up for others.

Dede doing what she loved - showing up, smiling, and living loud. Music, memories, and moments that mattered.

If someone needed help, she helped. If someone needed a meal, they ate. If someone needed family, she made room. She was the kind of person who never asked questions first — she just did what needed to be done.

Now, her family is asking the surrounding community to do the same for her.

Dede will turn 62 years old this Sunday, December 28, and those closest to her want to celebrate her birthday in a way that reflects who she has always been and what she has always loved — family, community, and muscle cars.

Anyone who knows Dede knows this: she loved loud engines, classic cars, and the feeling that comes when a powerful car rolls by. Mustangs were her favorite. She loved revving engines, cruising, and sharing that excitement with her grandchildren. Even after health challenges took away her ability to speak, that love never left.

Where she was happies - beside a Mustang, engines rumbling, and a smile that said everything.

Over the past year, Dede has faced significant medical hardships, including complications from sepsis that left her bedbound, a stroke that affected her speech and comprehension, and heart issues that now require comfort-focused care at home. Her family says the hardest part isn’t the silence — it’s knowing how much life, laughter, and love still lives inside her.

That’s why her family is organizing a surprise muscle car meet-up this Sunday December 28 at 2 p.m. at Main Street Bar & Grill in Old Monroe.

They aren’t asking for donations.

They aren’t asking for speeches.

They aren’t asking for attention.

They’re asking for presence.

The hope is to fill the area with classic and muscle cars — engines rumbling, chrome shining — so Dede can see, hear, and feel the community showing up for her on her birthday. To remind her, and her family, that Winfield and the surrounding communities don’t forget their own.

Anyone with a muscle car or classic car is encouraged to attend. Those without one are welcome too. Sometimes simply standing there, being counted, is enough.

Organizers ask that the gathering remain a surprise. Let the moment happen the way it’s meant to — naturally, powerfully, and together.

This is a moment to show what community really looks like.

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