By Patti Dozier
May 10, 2008 11:36 pm
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THOMASVILLE — A Thomasville woman and her daughter have been together for many, many years — many more than most mothers and daughters.
Hettie Akridge Park finally got around to observing her 103rd birthday Friday, almost a month after the actual date. She has been busy and out of town.
Her daughter, Gwen Park Kelly, is six months away from octogenarian status.
The two live together. Their mutual love and admiration is evident.
“We don’t argue or anything,” Kelly explained. “You don’t argue with your mother.”
Park was born April 18, 1905, in Mitchell County. Her father died when she was 18 months old, her mother when she was 15.
“The county had a meeting, because Mama didn’t have a will,” Park said.
A man said he would take Park and her five siblings, all under 20, if the state would pay him $75 a month.
“I said, ‘I wouldn’t live with you if you paid me $75 a month!’ “ Park recalled.
The children’s oldest sister raised the parentless family. They considered her their mother.
Things were not too bad. Park’s mother had taught her offspring “how to behave and do things.” Her mother taught her how to sew and stitch when she was 12.
On Thursday morning, Park was seated on a sofa in the living room of her home. Her fingers were at work knitting a large, colorful Christmas stocking.
“I think I’ve made about a thousand and given them to people,” Park explained. Santa’s soft, fuzzy beard was knitted from white angora yarn.
Kelly said that when her mother is not playing bridge, she is knitting. Park also plays word games and is an Atlanta Braves fan.
She was playing bridge four times a week until her daughter cut out a day. Kelly teaches a Sunday School class at First Baptist Church and needed Saturday, a bridge day, to prepare her lesson for the next day. “I was very selfish,” Kelley explained. “I needed my Saturdays.
Park and her husband, the late Tom Park, owned and operated Park Bakery in the 100 block of East Jackson Street, for more than three decades.
Mr. Park, who managed Flowers Baking Co. before going into the baking business on his own, did the cooking. His spouse decorated birthday and wedding cakes and kept the books.
The couple provided wedding cakes for probably three-quarters of Thomasville’s brides during the 33 years they were in business.
Park, a charming Southern lady, has no idea why she has lived so long. She does not appear to have given her longevity any thought at all.
The centenarian is spry, quick-witted and soft-spoken. Her bright eyes reveal that she misses nothing going on around her. She listens intently to others. Her smile is infectious.
Dr. Ben Grace, who hosted a Friday birthday luncheon for her at his home, has known Park since 1947, when he came to Thomasville.
“She used to make marvelous pastries. I met her the first time through pastry,” said Grace, a retired dentist.
Park and Grace have been playing bridge together almost since they met. The Friday lunch was followed by bridge, and Park was eager to get started.
“Few live to be to be that age,” Grace, 85, said, as Park ate ice cream pie at the opposite end of his dining table. “She’s right on!”
Park and Kelly, her only child, were in a wreck in December 2003. Both sustained a number of broken bones. Kelly was delivering Christmas gifts.
The wreck took place on Moultrie Road during foggy conditions. Kelly was stressed. Her mother knew she was tired and should not have made the trip that night, but said nothing.
Later, she told Kelly about her maternal observations and her decision to keep quiet. Mothers can look at their children and tell when they are tired, Park explained.
Park said that when she was 82, she decided to live to 106. Why 106? It would take her that long to “get everything right.”
Mother and daughter have lived together since 1987, when Kelly and her late husband, Daniel Kelly, built a house in the country and included Park in their plans.
Kelly died in 2000, and the girls moved back to town three years later.
Park’s health is good. She takes blood pressure medication and a diuretic. “That’s all,” she explained.
Mother and daughter plan a quiet Mother’s Day. Kelly will teach her Sunday School class this morning and return home to watch First Baptist’s televised morning worship service with her mother. They will catch a Braves game on television later today.
“It’s nice to have someone to care for,” Kelly said. “You take care of your children and husband. It’s nice to have someone to care for.”
Senior reporter Patti Dozier can be reached at (229) 226-2400, ext. 220.
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