Nadine Gwaltney, 100, recalls Jim Crow era

If the value of a life is measured solely by longevity, then Nadine Gwaltney is a very rich woman.
Gwaltney, who lives in Pasadena, recently became a centurion and celebrated in style with her family and her friends at Embassy Suites in Arcadia.
!!!OWe had family from New York, Tennessee, Pittsburgh fly in,!Xsaid her son Chuck Williams, a Pasadena resident and insurance agent. !!!OThere were all of her friends and some of our friends who know my mother. It was amazing. She wanted the party. She said !X00 doesn!|t come around that often and it isn!|t going to come around again.!XAnd gifts were welcome! She likes to open presents. It was a blast!!X
Williams said Gwaltney is just a pleasure to be around.
!!!OMy mom is a remarkable woman,!XWilliams said. !!!OShe!|s the kind of person people take to right away. Everyone wants to adopt her as their mother. She has this aspect about her that she doesn!|t want to judge. She wants to get to know a person and she shows genuine interest in someone else!|s life. She wants to meet people and get out. Even at 95 she was still cowboy line dancing. She still to this day plays bridge.!X
He added she grew up in the throngs of history that helped shape who she became.
!!!OShe grew up in North Carolina,!XWilliams said. !!!OIt was definitely during that (Jim Crow) era. Her mother was a shopkeeper and her father was a minister. She spent those years with her brothers and sisters, relatively in OK circumstances because her mother owned some small grocery stores. It was OK, but definitely the challenges of the South in that period of time were difficult.!X
Williams also said his mother!|s father was a slave who had a unique skill.
!!!OGrandfather was a slave,!Xhe said. !!!OHe was an entertainer. This is what I was told. That was his way of staying out of the cotton fields. He was allowed to do stuff in the house and perform for his master!|s.!X
Before getting into the grocery business, Williams said his mother did, in fact, get a formal education.
!!!OShe went to the local college,!Xhe said. !!!OShe got a degree in education. She then moved to New Jersey. That!|s where she met my father.!X
Williams said his mother had one sister and three brothers, adding that auntie is 96 years young and living in Knoxville, Tenn.
(Shel Segal can be reached at ssegal@beaconmedianews.com).

-Courtesy Photo

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