Tomorrow, a longtime Meridianite will mark a milestone birthday — Allie White, a devoted member of Poplar Springs Drive Baptist Church, will be 100 years old. A lot of things can happen in 100 years, but for White, one thing has remained constant. She has always lived in Mississippi.
White said she has lived in Meridian since 1939, and has been in the same house since 1949. But the first place she can remember living is her childhood home in Bailey, which was built by her father.
There was no plumbing in the turn-of-the-century country home.
"We had an outhouse," she said, "We didn't get plumbing until we moved to Meridian."
When White was 11, she had her appendix taken out right on the kitchen table in an operation by the original Dr. Rush — Dr. J.H. Rush, who founded Rush Infirmary, which would later become Rush Foundation Hospital.
"My mother polished all the lamps," White remembered. She was then put to sleep the old fashioned way — with ether — as her mother held her hand.
Though she had to do without plumbing and undergo surgery on her kitchen table, White did enjoy a limited amount of electricity in her childhood home. There was one electric light in each room, she said. Still, she had to do her studying by kerosene lamp.
Of course, with only enough electricity to fuel a few lights, White's family wouldn't have even fathomed anything like a refrigerator. Instead, they stored their milk in a well to keep it cool. The house was kept warm in winter by a pot-bellied stove, and the only relief from summer heat was "just opening the window".
White said she didn't get her first fan until the 1940s, when she would have been in her 30s.
"Boy," she said. "How did we live back then?" Then she added, "I guess people can live any sort of way."
White married in 1926, and stayed married until her husband, David, died 78 years later. In 1939, they moved to Meridian with their young son, Reginald, who White calls the greatest blessing of her life.
In the 1930s White said, "There wasn't much Meridian."
Though she joked that the main form of entertainment back then was "work" one of her favorite things about Meridian in the '30s and '40s was going to the movies, which were shown at what it now the Temple theater. She said she and her friends would walk there from 53rd Avenue, and would have to save their pennies in order to catch a bus ride back home.
In the 1950s, she entered what she said is one of the hardest times in her life, when her son went off to fight in the Korean war.
"I cried all the way home when we took him to the train," she said. "I was very glad when he came home."
After her son came home, White said he had to soak his feet for a week, because he had had to go so long without taking his shoes off.
He recovered, though, becoming a doctor and having a family of his own. White now has two grandchildren, David and Becky.
White has worked at several book-keeping jobs during her 100 years in Mississippi, including one that she said paid only $5 a week. Since 1950, she has been an active and devoted member of Poplar Springs Drive Baptist Church, as well as a devoted Republican.
Her birthday is tomorrow, but she will celebrate it today with friends and family.
Local News
Related Photos
-
2001 SNOWBOUND, ALL RIGHTS RESER
Discussion
Allie White: 100 years in Mississippi
- Local News
-
-
City cuts payment to Watkins
The Meridian City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to cut their monthly payment to David Watkins, project developer of Meridian's new police station, by $9,999 until work resumes on the project.
The order, made during the Meridian City Council meeting Tuesday morning, included a mutual agreement between the councilmen and Watkins to reduce the project developer's monthly consultant fee of $10,000 to $1, effective Tuesday. -
Crews work on gasoline pipeline
If you hear a loud, booming sound early today, between 4 a.m.-10 a.m., there is no cause for alarm.
Workers with Plantation Pipeline will be performing maintenance work on their 30-foot gasoline pipeline in the Meridian area to accommodate the widening of Highway 493. The location of the work activity will be at Highway 493 North and Oak Hill Baptist Church, just inside the city limits. -
Team Spirit
-
High Honor
The flowers and balloons Crestwood Elementary School Principal Kimberly Kendrick received at school Monday were not an early Valentines' Day gift.
Kendrick has been named Meridian Public School District's 2012 Administrator of the Year – an announcement that both surprised and wowed the 17-year veteran educator when made by MPSD Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor. -
Master Dance Class
-
Digital system promises better communication
Hopefully in the near future you won't hear someone in the emergency services ask over the radio, "Can you hear me now?"
A digital communications system, one which is being pushed by the Federal Communication Commission (FCC), is a few months away and, in some cases, is already in the testing phase in Lauderdale County. -
Inmate escapes custody
Mississippi Department of Corrections officials said Monday afternoon an inmate escaped from custody Friday and is still being sought.
Officials said Johnny Hall Jr. escaped from two Wilkinson County Correctional Facility officers’ custody while being escorted from his father’s wake at the Picayune Funeral Home in Picayune. Preliminary information indicates Hall left the officers and jumped into a waiting black vehicle with a white female driver. -
Citizen’s Police Academy begins today
The work law enforcement conducts on a daily basis is often misunderstood by the general public.
Officials at the Meridian Police Department developed a program to inform and educate citizens on what police do in serving and protecting the population. The program, The Citizen's Police Academy, has been gaining speed for a couple of years since it was first offered. Officials said it shows residents are interested in police work and how it is conducted. - Woman: decongestant brought meth charge in Alabama
-
Star Of The Week: Dominique Goodwin-Jenkins
- More Local News Headlines
-
City cuts payment to Watkins
Lower-hassle Screening to Be Tested at Airports
Raw Video: Dog Rescued From Icy Colo. Water
Helmet Camera Captures Calif. Fire Rescue
Worker Tells 911: Powell 'exploded the House'
Triple Win: Santorum Takes Minn., Mo., Colo.
Injured Marine Inspired by Homecoming
No Rape Charges Against Son of NYPD Commissioner
Egypt's Ruling Generals Play Risky Game With US
Former Komen Exec Defends Funding Cut
Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix
Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Jury Selection for Ex-UVa Athlete Enters 2nd Day
Cab Driver Helps Wis. Family Escape House Fire
Staff Removed at LA School During Abuse Probe
Runaway Goat Leads Police on Wild Chase
