Living a Long Life | by Linda Brendle
Published in the Rains County Leader on January 26, 2023:
Saturday night about twenty-five members of my family gathered in the Fellowship Hall of the Brashear Baptist Church to celebrate my Aunt Fay’s 99th birthday. Fay Hagan Robinson is my mother’s younger sister who was married to my dad’s older brother until he passed away almost two decades ago. The guest of honor was stylishly dressed in black jeans and boots, a pink sweater, a flowered scarf, and a black leather jacket.
There were lots of phone photographers snapping pictures, and many of them ended up on Facebook where they stirred up lots of attention. One of mine received sixty likes and twenty-eight comments within twenty-four hours. Most of the comments included birthday wishes, but many also included exclamations about how beautiful Aunt Fay is and how young she looks for her age. David posted a photo of my brother, me, and our spouses with the birthday girl, and he quoted something I’ve often said – that I want to be just like Aunt Fay when I grow up.
I admire my aunt in so many ways. She is beautiful with a wonderful sense of style, and her home is a fascinating combination of things she has rescued and collected during her life. She has continued to learn throughout her life, beginning with a GED since she didn’t have the opportunity to finish high school as a teenager, taking some college classes on-line, learning to use a computer, doing genealogical research on our family, and much more. She is an excellent hostess, always having coffee and cookies available and an extra seat or two at the table if it’s meal time. Most of all, she is one of the strongest Christians I know. She has read the Bible through more times than she can count and taught a ladies’ Sunday School class for many years until about three weeks ago. As if that weren’t enough, the Sunday after her birthday party, she sang a solo at her church.
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