Mrs. Viola Ezell Celebrates 100 year Birthday
Mrs. Viola Ezell recently celebrated her 100th birthday with friends and family at a party given in her honor at the Brown - Hutcherson Fellowship Hall on 36th Street S.E. in Grand Rapids.
Mrs. Ezell is originally from Nettleton, Mississippi where she worked her family's farm and helped her father raised her other eight siblings because her mother passed at age 35.
She moved to Grand Rapids in 1944 and found worked odd jobs such as cleaning and house keeping. The main job that she had was working for a temporary company who hired her for janitorial work.
She also married Roosevelt Ezell in 1944. Roosevelt found work at a local foundry for thirty - five years. The couple became parents six children "My Dad worked there for a lot of years in that hot, sweltering foundry, which gave him diseases, his brother and my cousin diseases," said daughter Wanda Ezell. "My father died from cancer; my cousin had a rare form of cancer and my uncle had lung cancer from working at the foundry."
Mrs. Ezell was known for her sweet potato pies and she was an artist with quilting and made some beautiful quilts over years for people. She also was known for making her Sunday dinner on Saturday night so that she didn't have to worry about cooking on Sundays.
"My mother stopped working at the age of sixty - five," said Wanda. "My mother is just a peaceful woman. She never learned to drive, so she was pretty dependent on my father to get around, but sometimes she would ride the bus."
Waanda continued. "As a young girl, I do remember that my mother and father never argued in front of us or treated each other bad in our presence. She did what she thought was right and she did the best that she could. She has never been a drinker, street runner or a club goer. "She promoted love among her children so she didn't let us fight or anything like that. She would tell us the right way to react to certain situations and she always talked to us about having self - control."
Mrs. Ezell took all of her children to church regularly.
"We grew up at New Hope Baptist Church and we went to Sunday school," said Wanda.
"I can still remember being in Mrs. Baber's Sunday school class. I know a lot of people get recognition for this and that, but my mother was a cook, so if someone had a funeral, she would volunteer to cook for the family and that was her contribution. She didn't have a lot of money to give, but she gave of her time and her talent. We had her birthday party at a banquet hall and we had such a good time. I made the party to last for four hours but we had such a good time that I wish that I had rented out the banquet hall longer. I saw so many cousins and other relatives in years because everybody came to my mother's birthday party.
"I tell people all the time that the only medicine my mother takes is Gerritt's Snuff. Mrs. Ezell is takes very little medicine and is in relatively good health at 100 years old.
"My mother had 9 brothers and sisters growing up and she was the second oldest child out of the siblings," said Wanda.
"When she was thirteen, she had to help her father raise her siblings because their mother had passed away. When my grandmother died, she left a two year old and my mother pretty much raised her and her siblings. My mother put her family first always. I remember this dress that she wore until the dress was worn out, just to make sure that her children got what they needed. She has always been a caring person who put others ahead of herself."
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