Celebrating 80 Years of Life
Posted by Donna Mae Scheib on October 16, 2018
Celebrating 80 Years of Life
The average yearly wages in 1938 was $1,730.00 and the cost of a gallon of gas was 10 cents. Early this June, family and friends from 10 different states and one foreign country made the journey to the Georgia mountains to celebrate an 80th birthday party for Lary, the mountain man.
Tucked in between the Blue Ridge Mountains and the Great Smoky Mountains in Northern Georgia is a collection of cabins that sit on the perimeter of a small lake on Rabun Bald mountain (elevation of 4,696 feet and the second-highest peak in Georgia, USA). The fastest route to this private community is around a two-and-a-half-hour commute from the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airport. Lary (yes, he spells his name with one ‘R’) has lived at his cabin year-round for the past twenty years with his wife, Alethea (age 82). Many people in their private community reside in Florida during the winter months and head up to the mountains for cooler summers. During Lary’s retirement years, he has worked odds and ends jobs for extra income by pet sitting, house sitting, doing construction/house projects, winterizing homes, cleaning gutters, and working security jobs and caddying at golf courses, etc. As Lary has gotten older he isn’t as active with jobs as he once was, but he still works at a golf course and drives vacationers to Atlanta to the airport. Many of those who live in his community have less frequently made the commute up to the mountains, but impressively for such a rural area, Lary and Alethea manage to make it work. There is no trash service, no city water, no other services, it’s at least a half hour drive down the mountain to a normal sized grocery store, and Lary must drive the two and half hours to the VA hospital in Atlanta for any medical treatment or visits. Lary mentions that when they began to build, good advice he received was to level everything out and make everything accessible on one floor; the entryway, kitchen, their bedroom, bathroom, laundry, and living are all on the main floor. It also helps that one of their eldest sons lives with his family in the furnished lower half of the cabin to help with anything else that they would need.
Lary grew up with 13 brothers and sisters and today, he and two other younger siblings are the only ones still living. His 80th birthday celebration had been planned a year out and somewhere between 70 and 80 family members and friends came to celebrate with a BBQ picnic up in the mountains. Lary received a birthday surprise when he was able to meet his 4-week-old great-grandson from North Dakota for the first time. As family and friends gathered around to re-introduce cousins and extended family and to sing “Happy Birthday”, Lary had tears of joy in his eyes. When asked about what he thought of being 80 years old, his answer was “I don’t know why the Good Lord has kept me on Earth this long” and his wife heeded the following advice, “You know when they say to take care of yourself when you are young to keep yourself in shape for when you are old? He’s your prime example why!”
In the rush of today’s world, we often forget to slow down and celebrate special events such as birthdays and anniversaries. As we age, these events often become even more important to recognize as we realize the blessing it is to have so many memories to commemorate, as well as a chance to see multiple generations come together.
Want more resources? Learn More >>
Want to stay updated with our blog posts and other resources? Sign up for monthly newsletter >>