Lillian Martin's 101 years
Lillian Martin celebrated her 101st birthday on Sept. 21, 2022, at Alexandria Place in Gastonia.
In her lifetime, she grew up in Keokee, Virginia, a coal mining camp/town, and rode her pony through the hills near the Kentucky border scouting for ginseng to sell by mail. She used the money she made from ginseng sales to buy cloth for her mother to sew into dresses for herself and her sister.
She enjoyed many hours listening to records her mother played on the old Victrola which sat outside on their back porch.
Her father worked in the coal mines and grew their food which was often traded for other necessities for his family.
After graduating from high school, Lillian was hired to work at the Oak Ridge, Tennessee, government research facility which was built to help produce uranium-235, needed to facilitate production of the first atomic bomb.
After the bombing of Hiroshima in 1945, she left her job and moved to Cramerton. She married in 1951 and subsequently had four children. She was widowed in 1959 and purchased her home on West Harvie Avenue in Gastonia in 1961 where she remained until entering Alexandria Place in July 2019.
An avid reader of The Gazette, North Carolina history books and politics, she also worked as a top-notch tailor and seamstress extraordinaire.
She still enjoys birdwatching out her window, meeting new people and observing life one day at a time.
Thanks to Irene Martin for the write up.
This article originally appeared on The Gaston Gazette: Gastonia's Lillian Martin celebrated her 101 birthday
