Loose Leaf Notes

-The following first appeared in The Floyd Press on March 11, 2021.

Kathleen (Weddle) Jamison has seen a lot of changes in her life. Jamison, who was born and raised in the Topeka part of Floyd county and is a Topeka Church parishioner, celebrated her 100th birthday last Thursday at her home.

A Happy 100th Birthday banner was draped across the front porch for the occasion. Friends dropped by throughout the day, bringing well wishes. A dozen roses, wrapped gifts and stacks of birthday cards sat on the living room coffee table. “The mailman’s getting tired,” Jamison joked. “And we haven’t gotten today’s mail yet,” her nephew Tony Weddle added.

Jamison’s long-time friend, Pastor Roy Turpin, played guitar, harmonica and autoharp and sang some of her favorite songs. “She told her family that I promised her we were going to have a little dance when she turned 100,” said Turpin, who sat by her side until it was time to pose for their dance move.

Speaking about some of the changes she has seen, Jamison said, “When I was growing up, the church was the focal point of the neighborhood and families were closer. If there was sickness in the neighborhood, someone was there to help you.”

As for technological advances, Jamison recalled her retirement from the Bank of America after 32 years. “The day I walked out of the bank to take care of my mother, I was 72, and computers were just getting started.  I went out the door and said ‘goodbye computers.  I’ll never have one in my house’ and I didn’t,” she said. “Now if I had to live another 10 years, I probably would have to one in the house to keep up.”

Jamison follows politics and current events. She offered a sad assessment about today. “The world now is turned upside down. I’ll never see what I call normal again.  It’s split in so many ways,” she said.

Jamison, who volunteered at Lewis Gale Hospital for ten years, expressed gratitude that she was able to live long enough to care for her youngest of two sons, who had Down Syndrome. “At birth, he was given 14 years to live. He lived to be 53. My prayer always had been that I could live to take care of him. I did. He got the best of care,” said Jamison, adding that she was 83 when he died. “And I thought I was old then.”

Jamison left Floyd county when she was 18 years-old. Her husband’s job at Carnation brought the family up and down the east coast, from Florida to Norfolk and Maryland, where she worked in different branches of The Bank of America. Her husband passed away when he was 50 years old and Jamison was 49, making her a long-time widow and a single mom. Her older son died of a heart attack at age 74.  “Both my sons are gone now. I have a grandson who is 53,” said the centenarian who has lived in her Floyd home for the past 23 years.

“I always ask Tony how you are,” said Ford Wirt, one of the visitors who paid Jamison a visit and brought a birthday card. “See if there’s any money in it,” someone joked. Wirt, the former director of Floyd’s Emergency Services, reminded Jamison about the pie she brought his son and his family when they moved in next door.

The midmorning mood was playful but quieted as Jamison prepared to answer the question, ‘What’s the secret to a long life?’ “Just be a sincere person, genuine,” she offered. “And as my parents would say, ‘Don’t get above your raising.”’

Jamison is thankful for her family and friends and for the care she’s been given. When Wirt told her that he would be there if she needed him, she said, “I still hope I’m here and not in a nursing home.” “There’s no place like home,” Turpin added.

“I hope I’ve lived a life that will take me where I want to go. I’m ready when the Lord calls me,” she said. _________Colleen Redman