100 years and counting
Published: October 28, 2005
The lights were dimmed, the candles were lit, and about 40 people squeezed into a festively decorated room to line up around a table laden with food, and sing happy birthday to the delicate-looking guest of honor at the head of the table - Nannie Grimes, who turned 100-years-old on Tuesday.
Grimes’ party was held Sunday at the Greater Laurel Health & Rehabilitation Center on Laurel Park Drive, where she has lived since September.
Grimes’ 77-year- old daughter from Delaware, her six grandchildren, and five great- grandchildren came from as far away as Colorado to help her celebrate the major milestone.
“It feels good to have family and friends around,” Grimes said, flashing a wide smile for the numerous cameras that clicked as she cut her birthday cake.
“She’s the best grandmom in the whole world, and I’m her favorite granddaughter and only granddaughter,” laughed Diane Markley of Laurel.
Markley’s 22-year-old son Christopher Markley smiled in awe of the lady he calls “Granny” and said, “Wow, 100.”
“People are living longer, so this is nothing too special,” Grimes said.
Markley, who said he visits Grimes a couple of times each week, described his grandmother as a good-humored person who is easy to talk to about almost anything.
“She is very funny and fun to be around,” Markley said. “I can talk to her about my problems, and her best advice to me was to stay focused. I always remember that.”
Born in Tennessee
Grimes grew up on a farm in Dickson County, Tenn., where her parents raised corn, tobacco and livestock. She attended school in a one-room schoolhouse until she was in the eighth grade, and moved to town to live with her uncle to attend high school.
When Grimes graduated from high school, she passed an exam that allowed her to teach grades one through eight in a one-room school in her community. Because there was a shortage of teachers in rural areas during the early 1900s, people who passed the exam were allowed to teach without a college degree.
After teaching for one year, Grimes married “the boy next door,” whom she met when she was 7, according to her daughter, Miriam Harris.
“They were married when she was 18 and they lived with my Dad’s parents on their farm,” Harris said.
After marriage, Grimes did some substitute teaching at her daughter’s school, but she spent most of her time being a Sunday school teacher and housewife.
“She did a lot of crocheting and gave loads of things away, like afghans, baby booties,” Harris said. “She baked homemade breads for us and neighbors. When they were giving out ration cards for food in World War II, she volunteered to sign people up.”
Harris said she never felt like an only child growing up because her many young cousins and the neighborhood children loved to be around her mother.
Daughter moves to Laurel
When Harris moved to Laurel and started a family of her own, her children looked forward to visiting her parents on the farm in Tennessee.
“She cooked for me all the time, and my favorites were the black-eyed peas and ham,” said Mark Harris, Grimes’ youngest grandson. “I remember my grandparents would get up at 5 a.m. and we’d smell the bacon from our beds. Mmmm.”
Grimes and her husband, who died in 1978, also spent every summer at Harris’ home on Montpelier Drive so they could be close to their grandchildren.
“We played Scrabble a lot, and she taught us about grammar and corrected us,” said grandson Richard Harris of Colorado. “She’s just so loving and everyone likes being around her.”
So much so that Richard’s wife Linda said, ” I fell in love with him because of Granny. I just love sitting down and talking with her about the old days. She’s always so positive, has a great sense of humor, never criticizes and makes you see the good in life. She’s such a Southern belle, but you can say anything and nothing shocks her.”
Exercise and diet credited
Grimes attributed her longevity mainly to the simple lifestyle of rural living, which included a lot of walking.
“We got lots of exercise on the farm and I did a lot of walking - more than a couple of miles to get to church and a couple of miles to get to school,” Grimes said. “My diet had a lot to do with it too, I guess.”
“She’s a real health nut-no smoking, drinking and lots of vegetables, black-eyed peas and pinto beans,” her daughter said.
And she lived a life greatly influenced by her Christianity, Grimes added.
“She was a lifelong Christian and influenced all of our lives on that,” Markley said. “She was an avid Bible reader and read to us from it often.”
Last year, when Grimes was living in Delaware with her great-grandson and daughter, she fell and hit her head. She had to have surgery in August to remove a blood clot.
“Her vision deteriorated after the surgery, so she doesn’t read or watch TV, but until the accident, she was so lively,” Harris said. “I felt guilty about her being in a home, but I’m too old to take care of her. … We were always close and I miss her.
“My daughter works at the hospital here and wanted her near her and the hospital. She visits her twice a day and likes to put her to bed at night.”
“I like to make sure she’s tucked in and warm,” said Markley, who’s a respiratory therapist at Laurel Regional Hospital. “I have lunch with her and put her in bed at 1:30 p.m. for a nap and I come back and put her in bed at 8 p.m. I live in Mayfair, so it’s convenient for me to see her every day and so wonderful.”
Presidential greetings
Grimes thanked her friends and relatives for coming and for the many gifts and cards. One card on the bulletin board behind her was from President George Bush.
“It’s not her choice of president, but she said ‘it was nice of him to send it’,” Markley said. “Now, if it had been Clinton - he was her favorite.”
As Grimes marveled over her presents, one arm around her granddaughter and the other on the shoulder of a family friend who’d just returned from Iraq, her grandson said: “She’s lived a wonderful life and my wish on her birthday is that she continues to be healthy and that there are more years to come.”
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