On a hot, humid afternoon in Franklinton last week, a birthday party was in full swing. Sitting at the head of a small table was the guest of honor, Mrs. Lucy Bateman. A resident of Good Samaritan Living Center for the past 11 years, Miss Lucy, as everyone calls her, was in her element. Although she sits in a wheelchair and can’t really walk, she says, and is also somewhat handicapped by severe hearing loss and limited eyesight due to what she calls some “degeneration of the iris,” this utterly resilient woman meets life head on, with a great big smile on her face.

Born Aug. 30, 1907 in Pike County, Miss., Miss Lucy turned 102 last Sunday. She was the second daughter of the 11 children born to Burlon and Nellie Pope Smith. When asked what was the secret of her longevity, she replied, “I’ve had some rough times, but I’ve never been sick much.”

She paused a moment to think about what exactly was the reason she has survived so long on this earth, then she said, “Honey, I don’t know . . .  I did have a real good husband,” she laughed, speaking of Ezekiel “Zeke” Bateman, her husband, who died in 1973 and whom she married when she was just 17.

(Use arrows above to view more photos) Advertisement

Aside from that, she said, “I just try to take care of myself. I take a nap every afternoon.”

The possibility of carrying good genes was broached, to which she replied, “That’s what we all say, isn’t it?”  For her, it’s a good possibility, as her mother lived to be 84 and her father, 81. Her sister Ellen was not quite 97 when she passed.

“See my hair? It never did turn white!” she said proudly.

One after another, members of the staff and many others came up to Miss Lucy, gave her a hug and wished her a happy birthday. Also at the party was her 77-year-old son, Ellis Bateman and her 6-year-old granddaughter, her namesake, Lucy Bateman. All told, she has nine grandchildren, and a good number of great- and great great-grandchildren. The younger Lucy, the daughter of Miss Lucy’s son, Burlon Bateman and his wife, Hortencia, seems to have a special place in her grandmother’s heart. According to Ellis, she visits her grandmother often.

Miss Lucy had stories to tell about her youth and about the years she spent being a wife and a mother to four children, three boys and a girl. Her daughter died a few years ago and one son, Dallas, is also gone. She was a homemaker who stayed at home, cooked, cleaned and cared for her family.

“I even worked in the fields,” she said, “ but not much.”

“And she did used to milk cows,” chimed in Ellis.

The reference to cows came after Good Samaritan Director of Activities, Griselda Martin, brought out a picture of Miss Lucy taken earlier in the week showing her “milking” a cow, or at least a replica of a cow. It seems the staff plans activities several times a week, and this was one of them. The residents were competing against each other, trying to extract the most “milk” from a container by tugging on the fingers of a rubber glove and “milking” into a pail. According to Martin, Miss Lucy said she was sure she would have won but that old cow kept swishing its tail in her face.

“She got so tickled when she was milking that cow,” said Catherine Beall, an assistant activity director.

While everyone at the party celebrated with ice cream and birthday cake, Miss Lucy started to tell stories.

She remembered hearing about the first airplane, the first car, and how she rode in the first car that ever came to New Zion, Miss. where she was living, just four miles east of Tylertown.

“Just one man in the county had one,” she remembered, “ and I got to ride in it.”

She also told a funny story about driving a car, many years later, when her children were still very small.

“I drove it every once in a while,” she said. “It was an old one and you had to push it off to crank it. I was going to go up to my sister’s house – no, my mother’s,” she said with a shake of her head.

“I got out to the car and it wouldn’t crank. Once I got it started, I went down and turned around and we went back up the side of the hill.”

After the visit, she went on, the car again wouldn’t start.

“I had three children sitting in the back of the car, but I pushed it off (down the hill) and when it cranked I jumped in. Then I thought to myself how crazy I was. With three kids in the car, I said to myself, “What was I thinking about?”

“I never drove much after that.”

Not too many years ago, Miss Lucy was selected the winner of the Senior Ladies Promenade at the Washington Parish Fair. The event recognizes the beauty, charm and grace of “older” women in the parish, qualities she certainly possesses.

A beguiling woman is Miss Lucy, full of vim and vigor, as they used to say early in the last century. Even after 102 years of wear and tear, she’s got a quick mind and a sharp wit. She’s just fun to be around — ask anyone who knows her.

”She gets ill tempered sometimes, but we all do,” said Beall. “Miss Lucy is never a problem.”

As the party began to wind down, Miss Lucy had one last story to tell.

“The other night I woke up itching and I asked for something to stop the itching, but just that quick I went back to sleep.  And then I dreamed of a big field of aloe vera plants,” she said, and threw her head back and laughed, tickled that she’d found her own solution to the problem.

Good genes, good luck, a good husband and living a life of full of laughter and optimism. It is those things and more that may account for her long life. But who knows why anyone lives or dies? For whatever reasons, 102-year-old Lucy Bateman is still here, speaking her mind and flashing her wit and wisdom to anyone and everyone she meets.

She’s a real gem.