From the Files of 1937:
Georgia Couple, Just Shy Of 100 Years Each, Never Rode Train Or Got Drunk
From The 1937 Tribune
By: Raymond Duncan
In Atlanta Journal
Ellaville, Georgia, January 30th – Alert, white-haired J.M. Lawhorn, of Schley County, near Ellaville, whose simple life has been little touched by a changing civilization, becomes 100 years old on Monday.
His bride of 73 years ago will observe her one hundredth birthday, on July 1st.
They have managed well enough without going modern. Neither has ridden on a railroad train, talked over a telephone, worn a pair of eyeglasses, owned a radio or gotten around to learning how to read and write.
Born in Marion County, on February 1st, 1873, Mr. Lawhorn still is “too young to learn” how to use tobacco and declares, “I never took a drink of likker in my life.” Gambling also is taboo. A doctor has been called to him, but once during his first century of living, he says.
The years have been kind to Mr. Lawhorn. He appears to be perhaps 60 years of age, remains erect, remarkably active, likes to hoe the garden or pull fodder.
To those who urge him to buy a set of false teeth to replace his natural ones, gone so long ago, he insists, “I eat as good as anybody. I don’t want any other teeth.”
His traveling has been limited. He has never been further than fifty miles from home. He has often gone to Americus, sometimes to Columbus. One of his trips to Americus, made when he was a young man, established his indifference to temptation.
“Remember once the dam at the mill broke and they sent me to Americus, in a wagon, for five gallons of likker, for the blacks that were to dig the ditches. I went to a barroom and got three jugs. Two had two gallons, the other had one. I hauled it all the way and never touched a drop. Had a log rolling near here once. They sent me for the likker. Never touched a drop all the wey.”
“No, sir,” he says keenly, “I don’t smoke or chew. Got my first one to tackle. All tobacco does is make you sick. I’m too young yet to learn. And I never took a drink of likker in my life.”
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