What really happened to Catherine's mother in the novel, Looking For Salvation at the Dairy Queen?

Lena Mae, Catherine and Martha's mother, was believed to have drowned. It is revealed, however, towards the end of the book that she actually just ran away from home. Burdened by the weight of being a young mother and feeling like her dream of being a singer had slipped away in the wake of being Reverend Cline's wife, she ran off to Nashville, allowing the town to think she had disappeared in the river.