Elmon Myers turned 104 on Monday. Two days later, Bernice Bohannon turned 108.
Both say clean living is the prescription for a long life.
“I worked with my dad,” Myers said. “I minded him good. I done what he said all my life, and if I didn’t mind him, he’d put a stick on me so we got along fine. Whenever I listened to him I came out on top.”
Myers graduated from Crispus Attucks High School in 1936 and was featured in the documentary, “Attucks: The School That Opened a City.” He went into construction with his father and later built 28 houses in the city. He’s a member of Trinity CME church. Myers is the last survivor of his 16 siblings. He fathered three children, Eleanor Nelson, Louis and Donald, who is deceased.
“I’m just so amazed,” Nelson said. “He’s our treasure. He’s just amazing.”
Myers rarely missed a Sunday service until he began living in a nursing facility, but that hasn’t affected his faith. He continues to pray, even trying to get on his knees to pray although he’s unable to do so. One night, nursing home employees thought he fell out of bed because he tried to pray on his knees, Nelson said.
“My niece says that’s the legacy he leaves with her: He still tries to get down and say his prayers,” Nelson said.
In Myers’ eyes, it’s real simple: “live a good life,” and “stay with Jesus.”
“Let Him lead and guide you in the way He wants you to go,” Myers said. “That way you’ll be on the right road. If you have a hard question ask him, wait on him. He’ll know the answer and love him and do the right thing. You come out on top every time.”
While reaching 100 is still an amazing feat, the number of centenarians has grown in recent years. According to postcensal population estimates for 2010-14 from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number increased from 50,281 in 2010 to 72,197 in 2014. Better healthcare is one contributing factor to higher life expectancy, states a report by the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.
Bohannon credits her long life to not drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes and just being herself. She still cooks and sews — she’s a seamstress by trade and is currently working on a quilt. Her nephew Kenneth White said she recently whipped up some smothered pork chops.
“She’s an amazing lady,” White said. “She’s just hilarious.”
Bohannon grew up sharecropping and attending a two-room schoolhouse in New Castle, Kentucky. It was in that schoolhouse where Bohannon met her future husband, Buford. After Buford received her father’s permission the two married when she was 16andhe was 18. The couple immediately moved to Indianapolis, where Buford’s sister lived. They were married for 53 years before he died.
When asked about changes she’s witnessed throughout her lifetime, a role reversal of sorts came to mind.
“I never thought I would’ve had a white aide come and clean for me,” Bohannon quipped, referring to the nurse aide who comes to assist her. When I came to Indianapolis in 1926, I was working for them.”
Like Myers, Bohannon came from a large family as well. Her mother and father had 10 children. After her mother died, her father married a woman who had seven children, and they had five more. A half brother is still living. She has three children, six grandchildren and many great grandchildren.
“I’m just blessed to still have her around,” granddaughter Robyn Dobbins said. “I come here from Washington state every year for her birthday, and we talk every Sunday at 1:30 p.m. (PST), 4:30 p.m. (EST).”
Contact Editor Oseye Boyd at 317-762-7850. Follow her on Twitter
@oseye_boyd.
Elmon Myers (Photo/Curtis Gyunn)
