One of the greatest ladies I have ever known passed away yesterday. She was 104 years old. She was a true southern lady in every sense of the word. She was my neighbor when I lived in Alabama, and had been my grandparents’ neighbor for more years than anyone could count. When she got married, she married a younger man, so she lied about how old she was to appear younger than him. It didn’t work, everyone knew how old she really was, at least in her later years. She loved animals and animals loved her. It’s a sign of a good person when animals love you. I remember as a child going to her house across the road from my grandparents’ and she always had some candy from the candy kitchen where she’d worked longer than anyone could remember. She was an old lady all my life, but she loved gardening, especially her rose garden. Up until maybe a year ago, she still worked in her garden. She cut the grass with a pair of scissors so that it was perfect and pruned her roses to perfection. I could go on and on about how great she was and what a wondrous woman she was, but I will end on this note. Yesterday, she took a sip of Coca Cola, said she was tired and then closed her eyes and took her last breath. There is a small community in Alabama that wept openly yesterday because they lost one of the greatest ladies they had ever known.
Joe
