We have had several ladies in LaSalle Parish who have reached the century mark during the past few years. One of those ladies is Jimmie Francis Bradford, who turned 100 on June 25, 2021.
We have had several ladies in LaSalle Parish who have reached the century mark during the past few years.
One of those ladies is Jimmie Francis Bradford, who turned 100 on June 25, 2021. A big birthday celebration for Jimmie was held on June 26th and I wanted to attend, but due to prior commitments was not able to visit with her that day.
I first met Jimmie Bradford more than fifty years ago in the fall of 1967 when I moved to Jena and assumed ownership of The Jena Times. Our office was located within 8-feet from the Jena Town Hall at the time and our side door led almost directly into the coffee room of town hall.
I would drop by almost daily and many times more than once a day to have a cup of coffee or visit with Mayor Cuz Sandifer and/or Jimmie, who was serving as Town Clerk at the time. In fact Jimmie served as Jena Town Clerk for more than 25 years in the 1960’s, 1970’s, and 1980’s.
Ever since the party, I had planned to go visit with her, so last week I picked up a bouquet of flowers for her and drove to her home, which is on LA 460, about half way between Whitehall and Nebo.
I was met at the door by a spry lady who invited me in and had kind words about the flowers and the fact that I had come to visit.
As we visited, I learned that Jimmie graduated from Jena High School in 1939 – a year before I was even born, and before the start of World War II, and before many of the inventions we enjoy today. This year is Jimmie’s 82nd homecoming – and believed to be the oldest living JHS graduate.
I also learned that Jimmie still lived at home by herself, although her daughter resides across the road and checks on her regularly, and her granddaughter lives close by and helps her when needed. But Jimmie still does her own housekeeping, and seemed to be enjoying herself.
She told me never in her life had she dreamed she would live to be 100 years old and was thankful the Lord had blessed her with good health in her senior years. If anyone met Jimmie and did not know her age, they would guess she may be in her late 60’s or 70’s – but surely not 100.
As I dwelled on our visit during my way back to Jena, I started to think about all the things that has happened in her lifetime
When she was born, this nation had onethird the people it has today, and most of them had never flown. Married women stayed home, television and computers were the stuff of fiction, and women had just earned the right to vote.
In 1920, the population of this country was 106-million; today it is three times that number – 331-million citizens. Thanks to improvements in medical care, life expectancy of Americans have shot up. In 1921, a typical man could expect to die at age 46, and a typical woman, 48. Today, life expectancy for men is 74 and women, 81.
Transportation took off early in Jimmie’s life. Traveling by auto and airplane have advanced tremendously during the past century. But on the downside, in 1921, there were 42 traffic fatalities, compared to more than 40,000 annually now.
Television did not become widespread until the 1950s and computers only in the past few decades. Just 9 percent of households had a TV in 1950; today it tops 98 percent.
In 1921, high-speed mass communications meant daily newspapers, of which there were 2,042 in the United States. By 2000 that had fallen to 1,489.
Americans remained a restless lot this past century as in the one before. In 1921, 60 percent of the people lived in rural areas and 40 percent lived in urban areas. By 2021, less than 25 percent lived in rural areas and more than 75 percent were in urban areas.
In 1921, the average household included 4.8 people and in 2021, the average household had 2.5 people.
Education has really changed. In 1921, only about 11 percent of all 14 to 17-yearolds were enrolled in high school; today more than 95 percent are in grades 9-12. Jimmie was among a small percentage to graduate from high school in those days.
The national debt in 1921 was around 24-billion dollars and today, that debt has mushroomed to around 29-trillion dollars.
Some of the major events during Jimmie’s lifetime include the Great Depression, World War II, Korean War, Atomic bomb, assassination of John F. Kennedy, the Viet Nam War, the terrorist attack on this country, the war in the mideast, and many, many others.
Since her birth, a total of 18 presidents have served the USA, including Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmie Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, Donald Trump, and Joe Biden.
What a lifetime.
