In May, Phyllis Landon will celebrate her 92nd birthday.
‘I’ve got so many memories you could never count them,? she said.
Some of her favorite ones date back to her life in Lake Orion.
Landon was born May 4, 1916 in her parent’s, Reuben and Alvina Barclay, house in Lake Orion to an extremely big family — she was number five of 15 children.
According to Landon, her and all of her siblings were delivered by the same doctor, Dr. Watson, who exchanged his services for her mother’s fresh baked bread and canned goods.
‘I don’t think they ever got paid anything but bread and cake,? she added, noting that exchanging services was the common way to pay for things back then.
When Landon was in eighth grade, she had to drop out of school to help care for her siblings.
‘I feel I have my degree in experience,? she joked.
Landon spent much of her teenage years taking her siblings to basketball games or football games or dances, and in fact, her youngest brother, Reuben, was a cheerleader for Lake Orion.
As Landon got older, her favorite past time was participating in the dance contests at Park Island.
‘We won a lot of them,? she said about her and her husband, Clarence Landon, whom she married in August of 1937.
‘Lake Orion was a lively little town back then,? Landon added. ‘There was always something going on.?
Landon and her husband, who lovingly referred to her as ‘Red? because of her hair, lived in a little house behind her parents? farm house on Joslyn Road.
Once married, Landon would frequently accompany her husband to Lake Orion’s bowling alley, Royal Recreation, or go and cheer him on in a baseball game.
The couple had two daughters, Mary Elizabeth and Virla Lee, who kept their parents very busy as the pair would travel around and compete in roller skating competitions. Landon also made both of her daughters? costumes.
Landon and her husband eventually moved to Waterford, and she has continued to live in that town since, but remembers her time in Lake Orion very fondly.
‘It was a great little town,? Landon said, joking that if she knew then what she knew now, she ‘would have been running? it.
She claims that not only could she have written a book about her time in Orion, but she could have written ‘two or three? with all her different memories and experiences.
And while Lake Orion has continued to change, Landon puts her years of knowledge into a piece of advice about life that is timeless.
‘Live it,? she said. ‘Live and enjoy everything you do.?