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This week, The Greenville Advocate spotlights 88-year-old Mollie Joyce McLendon

 

Q: When and where were you born?

A: April 7, 1930, in Pike County in the Josie community.

 

Q: Who were your parents?

A: Mose and Mary Eliza Williams.

 

Q: What did your parents do for a living?

A: They were farmers. Dad was also an auctioneer.

 

Q: Do you have any brothers or sisters?

A: Seven sisters and one brother. I am the baby of all of them.

 

Q: Where did you attend school?

A: Josie School then Banks Schools from sixth grade to 12^th grade.

 

What do you recall most from your childhood?

A: I can remember getting shoes when we started school. When we weren’t in school, we just went barefoot. Daddy made us save our shoeboxes, so he could put our Christmas gifts inside. We always got apples, bananas and oranges for Christmas.

 

Q: Where have you lived?

A: I’ve lived in Alabama all my life. I grew up in Pike County, moved to Opp for a short time when my husband’s job transferred him there. Then we came back to Greenville and I’ve been here ever since.

 

Q: What was your husband’s name? What did he do for a living?

A: Emory. He passed away in 1999. He worked for Piggly Wiggly grocery stores for 25 years.

 

Q: Do you have any children?

A: Yes, I have two. Dexter and Sheila Helms.

 

Q: What made your spouse the one for you?

A: He was just a good man. We both wanted to have babies and raise them the right way. He also wasn’t a drinker or a smoker.

 

Q: What advice do you give married couples for them to have a long, healthy marriage like you have?

A: Trust one another and don’t be jealous. You have to work well as a team. It’s 50/50.

 

Q: Where do you attend church?

A: First Baptist Church Greenville.

 

Q: Where did you work?

A: I worked in a sewing shop in Troy for a while, then I worked as an aid at L.V. Stabler in Greenville. All in all, I worked 23 years.

 

Q: Do you have any grandchildren?

A: I have three grandchildren and four great grandchildren. Grandchildren are great because you get to play with them and then they go home to mom and dad. God planned it just right.

 

Q: Do you do a lot of traveling?

A: I haven’t done a ton of traveling, but my husband and I did go to Mexico one time.

 

Q: What inventions have you witnessed that intrigue you?

A: I can remember our family getting a radio in the house. That was really something. We would listen to the Grand Ole Opry.

 

Q: What keeps you busy these days?

A: I go to the Senior Center everyday to play cards, I’m active in church and right now, I’m doing physical therapy at Crowne Health Care of Greenville.

 

Q: What advice would you like to give people on staying healthy?

A: Stay active and busy. When you wake up in the morning and don’t feel like getting up, make yourself. You’ll feel better because of it.