Viola Brooks celebrates 90 years

Viola Garrett Brooks will celebrate her 90th birthday on June 3. She was fifth of eight children born to Walter Eugene and Elizabeth Garrett a few miles from Troup. She spent her childhood in that area and attended Salem School.

She married the late J. W. "Buck" Brooks in Mixon in September of 1937 where they made their home and raised their seven children: V.L. "Buck," Sandra, J.B. "Bobby," Charlotte, Terr y "Buster" and Michael. She moved to Jacksonville in 1976 where she still lives.

Mrs. Brooks loves to share stories about the "old days."

She and her sisters walked to Salem School in all weather, carr ying their lunch of biscuits, home-cured bacon and syrup, in a syrup bucket. They were glad to go to school because the work at home was much harder than school work.

The chores still had to be done after school. She fed chickens, slopped hogs, milked the cow, chopped wood and helped cook on the woodburning stove.

They drew water from a well, boiled clothes in an iron pot, rubbed the clothes on a rub board using lye soap. Most of the clothes had to be starched, even the pillowcases, and ironed the next day with a smoothing iron heated on the stove.

She worked in the fields chopping and picking cotton. During the Depression, she picked cotton for 35 cents for a 100 lb. sack, which took most of the day. Having a naturally olive skin tone, she wore long sleeves, a bonnet and socks to cover her hands so as not to turn brown. It took a lot of work to survive in those days.

She still sees the funny side of things and is always taking up for the "underdog." "If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all," is her motto. She is not a housewife but a HOME MAKER and a blessing to all who know her.

There will be a special celebration for all her friends and relatives on June 3, 2-4 p.m. at the Christian Life Center on Hwy. 135 in Mixon. Mrs. Brooks' family invites all of her friends to attend.