 [NEARLY A CENTURY
OLD—Cora Sonner, who celebrated her 97th birthday
recently, is shown with three things which occupy her day—the Bible,
which she reads each morning; a current magazine, to keep her informed
of the modern world; and in the background her flowers, which have been
her hobby all her live. Among her memories are: the Civil War period,
Lincoln’s assassination, the first automobile and Billy the Kid and
Jesse James.]
Local Resident, 97, Still Enjoys Life
“When you live to be 97, you begin to think about a lot of things that happened over the years—some good, some bad—and then you thank God for all the good things” This attitude toward life possibly had added many years onto the span of Cora Sonner, Hillsboro, Rt. 2, who in now in her 97th year. This bright-eyed, cheerful and talkative (I talk so much I wonder that my tongue doesn’t get tired”) lady has had a geographically limited life—she never lived outside Highland County—yet she has had a surprisingly full life. And as far as she’s concerned she’s still having a full life. The snow-haired lady remembers the Civil War: “Uncle Joe was a captain then. I remember seeing him in uniform. Another of my relatives—he was older—was a soldier in the war before—I don’t remember which. He was crippled and too old to fight, so he was a recruiting colonel.” Recalling the Civil War and Lincoln’s assassination, she said, “I remember my folks talking about Lincoln dying, and they cried. It made me sad” In an 80 year transition, she added, “No I didn’t cry when I was so young and heard about President Lincoln. But I cried when Franklin Roosevelt died.” She remembers the first car she saw: “It looked like a buck-board with no pony in front. My riding horse, Jim, was scared to death of them.” Jim, long since gone, has been replaced by Ernest Sonner’s modern car, in which she rides occasionally. Thinking back, she remembers walking two miles to New Market Baptist Church to attend Sunday School, where she is still a member although she is unable to attend. But it’s not just memories for Mrs. Sonner. She keeps up with world events by reading current newspapers, news magazines, and watching TV. She watches TV despite the fact that her hearing became bad several years ago. She can understand nearly all that’s going on she says. She keeps informed, and is keen-witted person. Never bored, her daughter-in-law relates, she reads detective story books often, along with weekly magazines and novels. Every morning she reads the Bible. Contrary to what many elderly people say about today’s generations going to the dogs and world growing worse daily, Mrs. Sonner things—well listen: There’s no more badness percentage-wise, than there was then.” She says, “If we have more badness, it’s because we have more people. There’s another thing. We didn’t hear about the bad ones. We didn’t have radio, TV and the newspapers. And the youngsters didn’t get the chance to get around like today’s do. But they were just as bad.” I remember reading about a teen-age killer once named ‘Billy the Kid,’ and there was a man named Jesse James.” “The other day I read about a man named Billy Graham. There’s all kinds. They don’t change.” She did have a word to say about a recent visitor to the U. S. “I’ve heard about him (Khrushchev). I don’t trust the Russians.” At 97, Mrs. Sonner doesn’t pretend to be one of the cigarette smoking, tennis-playing great-grandmothers often read about. She doesn’t smoke, and never did and doesn’t get around too well any more. For the past few years, her daughter-in-law has been fixing her the breakfast that she used to cook for herself. She had difficulty in walking. “There’s been some pain,” she admits. “But I don’t worry about how old I’m getting. I’ve got a lot of people from the past and present to think about and I have a son, daughter-in-law, two grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, who all live within a mile. And I have a lot of past to remember.” The past includes her birth on Oct. 26, 1862. She was born within seeing distance of her present home. Her birthplace still stands. A little closer to her present home is the spot where her second home was. It was there that she lived before she was married to a farmer, while she was a teacher. Two miles away is the house where she and her husband lived after their 1892 marriage. He left her a widow with one child six years later when he died of the then-fatal disease—typhoid. She has been in her present home since 1898, where, as a young widow, she moved into the house with her parents There she reared her son, Ernest, Sr. who now owns the home. For a ten-year period, she was a school teacher. She studied teaching in Hillsboro, boarding here during her studies. Before that, she was a pupil in Hillsboro Union School. Teaching at 17, she taught many pupils older than herself. She also taught at old Pike College (on 62) before it burned many years ago. Mrs. Sonner is never bored. She works daily at her favorite hobby, flowers. A love handed down from her grandmothers, flowers, are a constant source of pleasure to here. She raises them in two windows of the house, and boasts having raised some flowers from South America. She won an award for an article she wrote on geraniums. “Often” she says, “when a sorrow or disappointment comes, I got o my flowers to keep me from being low.” She also loves music, but hearing has handicapped this pleasure of the former church pianist and organist. Her last illness was in 1933 when she was ill for several weeks. Her last medical checkup showed her to be in excellent condition. Her sense of humor is typified by a comment she made to her daughter-in-law while the photographer was about to take her picture. Glancing at her daughter-in-law, she impishly said, “I think I’ll make a face at the camera.” |