Lennie Walker turns

The best 100-year-old treasures ever found normally include coins or items worth plenty of money.

I know of a priceless 100-year-old treasure right here in Atlanta.

Ms. Lennie Walker, who resides at Rose Haven Retreat in Atlanta, turned 100 on Wednesday, Jan. 8.

Not many people can say that they know someone who turned 100, but Ms. Lennie and her family can.

In fact, they can give you three instances. Aside from Ms. Lennie, her father, Dixie Walker, lived to be 101 and her grandmother, Mattie Traylor, lived to be 106. Walker’s mother, Bennie, came close to the cen tury mark but passed away at 98.

That gives her future kin something to look forward to. When I arrived to meet Ms. Lennie for this article, her daughter Valaida McClinton and granddaughter Lovita Belford were on site visiting.

I immediately asked Ms. Lennie what the secret was to her longevity and she replied, “hard work.”

“As long as I can remember my daddy instilled in us hard work. Even at six years old my daddy had me work ing hard to help the family,” Ms. Lennie remarked.

Back in the day families had to work hard and pull to gether to keep things going right.

Her mother, Bennie, had eight children. Six girls and two boys. Ms. Lennie was the third girl out of the six.

Ms. Lennie was born on Jan. 8, 1926, in Carterville, Texas but her family moved to Queen City when she was young

She lived there her entire life until she relocated to Rose Haven Retreat.

In her 100 years here on Earth her family has grown a lot.

She herself had three children, Elvis Walker, Joe Young (deceased) and Valaida McClinton.

Ms. Lennie has eight grandchildren, 13 great-grand children and nine great-great-grandchildren.

That alone kept her hopping but she found ways to fit in other things she loved as well.

When asked what her favorite things to do growing up Valaida said, “she was very fond of quilting, sewing, chewing tobacco and raising hogs, chickens and pigs, but her favorite past time was fishing.”

Ms. Lennie chimed in, “I loved to go fishing in the creek.”

“She also liked to sit on the porch and see who was coming and going,” Lovita said. “She would spend time each day talking with her good friends Rosa Lee and O.C. Banks.”

O.C. Banks has a street named after him in the Lanark area of Queen City.

If you are familiar with the Lanark area of Queen City, the city named Walker Lane after her daddy Dixie,” Lo vita said.

And just off Walker Lane is Oak Grove Baptist Church which just happens to be 158 years old.

Ms. Lennie was very fond of going to church.

“We are here for a purpose. Keep God first in every thing you do and go to church,” Ms. Lennie said. “We were in church every Sunday at Oak Grove Baptist Church in Queen City.”

Those are words to live by.

We brought up how times sure have changed since 1926 in several different ways.

“She witnessed crank phones to smart phones and out houses to indoor plumbing,” Lovita added.

What hasn’t changed in Ms. Lennie’s infectious smile and the impact she continues to make on her family and those around her.

She taught us well how to clean, cook and keep a job among other things,” Lovita said. “She was hard on us but she kept us straight.”

I looked back at some of the important events that hap pened in the same year Ms. Lennie was born.

Long reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II was born in 1926 as was famous actress Marilyn Monroe and pub lished author Harper Lee.

Other notable things that happened in 1926 were Satchel Paige made his pitching debut, U.S. Route 66 was established, Disney Studios was born, Winnie the Pooh was published, German engineer Andreas Stihl patents and develops an electric chainsaw and the cheeseburg er was invented by Lionel Sternberger.

Looking back at the past 100 years of her life, Ms. Len nie can still tell you things that happened when she was six.

She definitely won’t let you forget that her all-time fa vorite thing to do was wet a hook in the creek and hope for a big catch.