Flora E. Curtis of Independence Township, born Jan. 27, 1908, celebrates her 100th birthday with family and friends Saturday, Jan. 26, at Waterford Oaks Activity Center.
Family members, many of whom visit her every day, neighbors, who shovel her driveway when it snows, and friends from near and far are invited to her birthday party.
Curtis grew up in Tennessee and lived in Independence Township since 1946. Now a developed area with schools, churches, stores, and neighborhoods, at the time it was mostly country.
‘I’ve always been a country girl,? she said. ‘There were no lights, nothing back then.?
She moved to Michigan on the invitation of one of her four children, she said.
‘I told him I didn’t want to live here, but he said, ‘you’ll like it,? she said. ‘I’ve been happy ever since I moved here ? I love Michigan so far.?
She enjoys Clarkston’s parades and neighborhoods, and was popular with neighborhood children, who would call her “Granny,” and come over to play Rook, a southern card game.
To what does she attribute her long life?
‘I’ve been a good girl,? she said. ‘I’ve worked ever since I was knee high to a duck.?
Her first job was making biscuits at a boarding house when she was 8 years old, she said.
She still enjoys fried eggs for breakfast, snuff tobacco imported from Tennessee, and occasional trips to the casino ? she can’t see well, but knows to cash out when she hears the bells.
‘She loves her grits and her marshmallow cookies,? said Sandy Snow, of her eight grandchildren.