'An interesting life': As she turns 103, Daytona woman recalls moonshiners, NASCAR icons
DAYTONA BEACH — When Lorene Amick celebrates her 103rd birthday on New Year’s Eve, there most certainly will be a toast with her cocktail of choice: a splash of Jack Daniels over ice.
But it’s a ritual that she doesn’t save for special occasions.
“I have one every day,” said Amick, who gathered with family members on a recent afternoon in her room at The Blake At LPGA assisted-living facility ahead of her upcoming birthday on Sunday.
On her dining room table, a one-liter bottle of her preferred whiskey sat unopened, the essential ingredient for one of the secrets to her longevity.
“I have a 5 o’clock drink every night,” said Amick, winking with eyes that size up people and situations with laser-like focus. “I’m not going to share that with you.”
Over the course of an hour, Amick, assisted by occasional consultations with her children and grandchildren, did share the details of a lifetime of experiences that span more than a century of American history.
Her life and times encompass the dawn of the roaring ‘20s through the Great Depression, World War II, astronauts on the moon and smart phones that put computers into everyone’s hands.
When it comes to the latter, Amick is no slouch, according to her granddaughter Anastasia Demico, 26, who traveled from her home in Ireland for her grandmother’s birthday.
“She’s good on text,” Demico said. “She texts me with emojis all the time and we FaceTime each other a lot of the time.”
Amick nods, as if it’s no big deal.
“You want to learn and keep up with the new world,” she said.
From moonshiners to NASCAR royalty, 'an interesting life'
Amick considers the ability to adapt another secret to a long life. It’s a trait that she has demonstrated as she navigated a dizzying series of jobs and situations over more than 100 years.
She was born on Dec. 31, 1920 in Winston-Salem, N.C., where her father was a department store salesman and her mother was a homemaker. By the time the Great Depression hit in 1929, the family had moved to Charleston, West Virginia, where she helped her mother run a boarding house.
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At 17, she married the first of four husbands, a moonshiner who used to run the illegal hooch up and down State Highway 115 around North Wilkesboro, North Carolina with help from a crew that included legendary stock car driver Junior Johnson, according to family members.
“I remember the stills out in the woods around our home,” said Ken Love, 80, the oldest of Amick’s five children. “I remember those bootleggers ran up and down Highway 115. I remember they used to sit on the porch and shoot their guns in the air to let the moonshiners know the revenuers were coming in.”
During World War II, Amick contributed to the stateside war effort by working for a company that made 40mm artillery shells, but soon became immersed in the early days of stock-car racing in the Carolinas.
She met and became friends with NASCAR founder Bill France and his wife, Anne, moved to Daytona Beach in 1949 and worked as secretary for France’s publicist in the early days of NASCAR in the 1950s, according to the family.
In Daytona Beach, she also operated a popular hot dog stand on the beach, as well as several restaurants, including Hillbilly’s Drive-In on Mason Avenue. For a time, she also headed south for a stint as a waitress in Miami.
By the 1960s, she had returned to her real estate license and sold homes in the community, she said.
“Did you bring your pajamas to stay overnight?” Amick asked a visitor as she recounted a string of adventures. “I’ve had an interesting life. I’ve enjoyed all of it.”
A world traveler, too
Later in life, Amick traveled the world to destinations that included Ireland, Russia, Germany and Italy. She climbed Machu Picchu in Peru as well as Dunn’s River Falls in Jamaica, the latter at age 70.
Amick’s daughter Denise Demico, 59, said that her mother’s resilience has rubbed off on her and her siblings, as well as Amick’s grandchildren.
“That generation, they were survivors,” Demico said. “They did whatever it took to survive. We’re the same way, we do whatever it takes to get the job done.”
Denise Demico is now the owner of Fair Realty in Jacksonville, a business that she inherited from her mother. When Demico’s daughter Aleeta, 23, gets her real estate license in a few years, she also plans to join the business.
She describes her grandmother as “a very quiet observer,” who is “introverted, but extroverted with the people she loves.”
With those loved ones gathered around her on a recent afternoon, Amick offers the idea of starting her daily 5 o’clock routine a little bit early.
“Let’s open up that bottle and have a party.”
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Daytona woman turns 103 on New Year's Eve, recalls moonshiners, NASCAR
