Lula Mae Fountain of Lake, and Allie Mae Creel of Sebastopol, both life long Scott County residents, were born just six days apart all the way back in 1918. During this month in 2018, the two wonderful women are both celebrating becoming members of the centenarian club.
Both women are very gracious and spending time with each was extremely enjoyable and very educational for this reporter. These young ladies have seen and experienced more in their 100 years than most people can imagine.
When asked individually what the secret to living such a long wonderful life is, their answers practically mirrored one another’s. The answers did not include either of them stumbling upon Ponce De Leon’s infamous fountain-of-youth, the reasons were much simpler than that. Both credited their close relationship with God and unwavering Christian faith as the most important reason they have each lived such long lives filled with love and blessings.
Lula Mae Fountain
Fountain was born on May 24, 1918 to Ms. Etoy Wilson and Mr. R.V. Owens. She was born in the Salem Community and has lived there for practically her entire life. She says, “this is where I was born and raised, and this is where I will be until the Lord calls me home.”
Fountain was introduced to God and the Christian faith from a very young age and it has remained the most important part of her life. “In those days they brought you up to be in church and love the Lord,” she recalls. She has fond memories of her childhood and remembers having loving parents that brought her up right, and she did her best to raise her children in the same manner.
Fountain married Lunis Fountain on April 16, 1939 and gave birth to her first child on December 9, 1941. The happy couple went on to have nine children.
Lula Mae says, “I was a one-man-woman and always have been.” She was a lifelong homemaker who always strived be the best wife and best mother possible. All to often in todays keep-up-with-the-Jones’ society the job of mother and homemaker are either overlooked or left to others because parents are so busy making money. Fountain accepted her job, the most important job there ever will be, with pride and did it to the absolute best of her ability.
“I did my best to raise my children right, and always do the best they could. I always tended to my business and left other people’s business alone,” Fountain says. She whole-heartedly believes, when a person does their best to treat all people with love, respect and in the same manner they would like to be treated, that person’s life will be blessed. “The Lord will throw the blessings on you if you are always trying to live right,” she explains.
This is sound advice, and guidance, from a woman that has been around long enough to learn a thing-or-two. It would behoove us all to take this advice to heart and use it daily.
Fountain’s life has been blessed many times over. She is a proud grandparent to 37 grandchildren, 25 great grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren. Take a moment to truly let those numbers settle in. Yes, she has been very blessed, and she will be the first to agree with that statement. Mrs. Lula Mae states, “God must love me, I have made it one-hundred years and I’m still a going.”
Fountain lost her beloved husband in 1978 after almost 40 years by each other’s side. She made it crystal clear that Lunis was the only man ever meant for her. I was meant to have one husband and I did until the Lord called him home, but it was not my time yet,” she recounts. She never really dated and never remarried, she instead turned all her time and attention to her children, multiple generations of grandchildren and her church.
Fountain attends Mount Olive M.B. Church in Lake and spends as much time there as she possibly can. She makes it a point to reiterate numerous times what a big role the church has had in her life. She says, “I am at the church every chance I get, and I used to be there anytime the doors were open.”
On May 26, it was apparent just how much Lula Mae is loved by family, friends and neighbors. Her 100th birthday celebration was absolutely packed. Every party goer that arrived took a moment to have a word with the guest of honor who was wearing her best “Sunday’s” and offering hugs and smiles to everyone that came in.
This annual birthday celebration started with Mrs. Lula Mae’s 80th birthday and has continued over the last two decades. If the mood of the celebration is any indication it appears that this annual birthday party will continue for years to come. The main room was full of smiles, laughter, kids of all ages playing and just an overall feeling of love and happiness. It’s a birthday bash that everyone should get the chance to be the guest of honor at, as it would absolutely make anyone feel more than special.
By all accounts, Lula Mae Fountain has lived a very blessed life and it’s obvious she has enjoyed every moment of her century-long journey. “I have always tried to live a good life through the Lord. I’m still going and feel pretty good and plan on going until the good Lord calls me home,” she says. Mrs. Lula Mae feels like her life has been full of blessings, but so many of her family and friends believe that she has been the true blessing to all.
Allie Mae Creel
Mrs. Allie Mae loves spending time with her family and has been a devout member of Sebastopol Baptist Church for over 70 years. She has lived in Sebastopol almost as long as the town has been on the map. She absolutely loves her hometown and has always relished living there.
For a short period of time in the early 1940s she moved to Alabama due to her husband’s work. Living away from her true home only lasted nine months, when she and her husband happily moved back. Except for those few months she has spent the last 100 years living in, or around, Sebastopol, the only place she has ever considered home.
Creel says, “I love this little town and I have always loved everything about it.”
Born Allie Mae Byram, she was the eighth child of Dolly Mae Phillips Byram and Walter Byram. Creel had five brothers and six sisters and is the only remaining child. Creel was raised in the church and has very fond memories of her parents and childhood. “I had wonderful parents and I am so thankful I was raised in a Christian home,” she says.
Mrs. Allie Mae’s parents introduced her to God, and the Baptist church very early on in her childhood, and she has remained resilient in her faith everyday of her life. Being close to God has always been her guiding light. “I have always believed that the way to lead a good life is to live a life as close as possible to God and to love your family and friends,” explains Creel. She goes on to say, “you should love people and always do right by them, and I have done my best to never do wrong by anyone.”
Creel was raised on her family’s 160-acre farm and spent her childhood in the fields farming with her family. She believes things were much different back in the yesteryear when she was growing up. People, and the way they live, have changed a lot during her 100 years. “People today just don’t seem to be as close to their family as we were growing up. We did everything together and it just seems like that is not how families are today,” she says.
Creel graduated from Sebastopol High School on April 1, 1937 and got married to William Finely “Buck” Creel on the same day. That is no April Fool’s joke. While chuckling Creel recalls, “I got married in the morning and got my diploma that evening.” It was love at first sight and the couple worked together in everything they did for the next 65 years.
She went from high school student to wife and farmer overnight. “The house we moved into cost us $2.00 per month,” Creel recalls, “and I helped pay for our house and electricity by selling eggs in town.”
In 1944 the couple purchased land, some of which Creel still lives on today, and began farming and raising dairy and beef cattle. “It was the late 30s and early 40s when trading and bartering goods was a way life,” she says, “everyone pretty much raised everything they ate, or traded for what they didn’t have.”
For many years the Creels ran a Grade A dairy farm. She warmly remembers the long days that started early every morning. “We would get up and head to the dairy barn at 4 a.m., after working at the barn for a couple of hours I would go back to the house and cook breakfast for the family”, she recalls.
Creel and her husband welcomed their first born, Rita Faye, in 1944, and their second child, Peggy Anita, in 1949. To date she now has four grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. If you go for a visit be ready for her to pull out the pictures of the grandbabies and great-grandbabies to show you each one of her beloved blessings.
She lost her adoring husband, and her best friend, in 2004 but his memory remains strong within her to this day. “He was such a good man and he really loved me, he was a great husband and a wonderful grandfather. It was hard to lose him, but I know he went to better place,” Creel said.
From 1937 until his passing the two soulmates worked together. They grew cotton, corn, operated the dairy farm and raised beef cattle all at different times to support their family. Creel would not change a moment of the hard work and hot days in the fields as during those times she was working with the ones she loved the most.
Mrs. Allie Mae has remains steadfast in her religion and attends church every chance she gets. She has been a member at Sebastopol Baptist Church since 1944. She has lived a long wonderful life and says when it is time for her to move on from this Earth she will be ready. “I’m ready to go when He gets ready for me, I have a better place to go,” she assures.
One can only hope and pray to love a long happy life that mirrors that of Mrs. Allie Mae’s 100 years. She says, “I have always been healthy and I have only been in the hospital a few times.” And even at the impressive age of 100 she still enjoys getting outside and working on her flowers when she is able.
All it takes is spending a little time with her to clearly see that she is at peace and just taking life day-by-day. “I have stayed as close to the Lord as I know how,” says Creel. She is proud to have become a centenarian and has always felt young at heart, but she is starting to feel a little older these days. “I have always felt younger than my age, but I am feeling a little older these days.
As Mrs. Allie Mae passes the century mark in her life she is only looking forward to the days she has left here to enjoy and that trip home to her “better place.” The good Lord knows she has earned the right to emjoy them both as much as humanily possible.
Creel will be honored with a birthday reception Sunday from 2:00-4:00 in the Sebastopol Baptist Church Fellowship Hall.
