Aug. 12--FALKVILLE -- If your mood is a downer and you could use a dose of laughter, drop by Summerford Nursing Home here on U.S. 31 and say hello to Aunt Ola.
Georgia Leeola "Aunt Ola" Smithson celebrates her 101st birthday today. While she's had her share of heartache -- she lost two sisters in the 1932 tornadoes that swept Alabama and two of her three sons to cancer -- it's evident a cheerful attitude got her through the hard times.
And she doesn't appear to have lost the edge.
"My biggest lesson has been trying to keep my mouth shut," she said. "Talking got me in trouble a few times."
Smithson, who was born in Cullman County and spent all her life there until relocating to Summerford two years ago, injects a light moment into almost every story.
"I remember my first ride in a car," she said. "My brother had a car that had a rumble seat. I used to ride in the rumble seat with a girlfriend and wave at the boys going down the road. But none ever came."
Good party girl
Smithson said she went to parties as a younger person, adding, "But only to good parties."
She said she doesn't keep up with politics at all because they don't really interest her.
"I know (politicians) are going to do what they want to do if they can," she said. "I haven't voted in years. I voted for the man but I'm really a Democrat."
When asked who she first voted for, she replied, "Big Jim Folsom. He was something else. Oh, I'm just going on."
But the mood of the quick-witted and smiling Smithson changes when she recalls March 21, 1932.
"It was a Monday and kind of late in the day," she said. "I was walking with my only two sisters who were home at the time, Audrey and Rose, to the house from the barn after milking the cows. The rain came fast, and we went inside to change clothes. And then the tornado struck. We got blown from first one place and then another."
In addition to killing her sisters, she said the storm scalped her and "tore one of Daddy's legs off. He wore a wooden leg after that."
Her mood is also somber when she talks about her youngest child, Ronnie, who died at 23.
"He was hit with shrapnel in Vietnam, and his death was cancer related," she said. "My surviving son, Tony, who lives in the Corinth community of Cullman County, where I lived, served with Ronnie. My other son, Winford, who served in Germany, also died of cancer."
Staying positive
But Smithson would rather not dwell on the negatives. She rates the arrival of television as one of most amazing things she has witnessed. She has never ridden in an airplane. She passes along advice for raising today's children.
"Tell young people to be careful about how they live," she said. "Tell them to stay off drugs and smoking and whiskey, and they'll live long lives, too."
She attributes her longevity to work.
"I worked just like all the other people, worked hard, farming, working at the cannery, baby sitting, cleaning house, whatever," she said.
One of Smithson's granddaughters, Shannon Moon of West Point, came by with her son Carson Moon, 9.
"We come at least once a week," Shanda Moon said.
"My great-grandmother is very nice and lovely," Carson noted.
Smithson said she appreciates all visits and enjoys living at Summerford.
"Everybody's good to you and sees after you," she said. "But I can pretty much wait on myself."
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