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Social - December 2003 |
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Wilkinson, Loving every moment of life |
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By AMY WADSWORTH, Staff Writer ———————————— VALE — Lois Wilkinson, 79, sits in the living room of her 78-year-old house in Vale and reminisces about old times. A native of Lincoln County, she says small town life has treated her well. “I have really enjoyed life,” she said. Wilkinson also has been attending First Baptist Church of Startown in Newton for 38 years. She has made many friends over the years and has watched how their lives have changed. “Some of the children that I used to see are now grown and have their own children,” she said. Wilkinson remembers growing up in Lincoln County, working on the farm until sundown and gathering around the kitchen table to study her lessons by oil lamps. She was a student at Union High School where she graduated at 16 in the class of 1941. Electricity came on her 16th birthday. “It was very exciting,” she said. Wilkinson is a caregiver. She cared for her parents when they were sick and now is caring for her son who is diabetic. “People ask me how I do it,” she said. “Anyone would do it for their parents.” Once her parents passed away, Wilkinson found an abandoned house in 1982 which she wanted to fix up. She had the house moved onto a portion of land that she inherited from her parents. The next few years was spent remodeling. Members of her family helped her with the house. Once it was complete, she had a house warming party. “Everyone knew how long it took me,” she said. “My church friends, work friends and neighbors all came out.” Wilkinson still enjoys her house to this day. Wilkinson has countless stories about going to learn in a two room schoolhouse where there was no inside water or bathroom. The toilets were outside and there was an outdoor pump for water. She also remembers making $3 a week as a caregiver and 58 cents an hour in the hosiery mill in Hickory. But most of all she remembers the good things that have marked her more than 70 years of life. She is thankful for the parents who raised her and for the education she received. “It was the good old days,” she said. “We were happy.”
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© 2001 Lincoln Times-News |
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