By Amy Moshier
If you ever wondered what it would be like to grow up as the 11th out of 12 children, ask Marjorie Holloway, who recently turned 100 years old. The age range from the oldest to the youngest in her family was 31 ½ years.
Holloway has resided at The Wellington at Southport for seven years and turned 100 on Halloween. Her advice to others? “Always do the right thing,” she said.
Holloway ran track in seventh grade. “She was a very fast runner,” said Cindy Daniel, sales director at The Wellington. Holloway did not attend school past the eighth grade.
Her father was a sharecropper. “Marjorie started cleaning houses at the age of 12,” Daniel said. “She earned $1 a day.”
She married at age 17. Her husband was 22 when they married. “Marjorie couldn’t remember how she met her husband, but her son mentioned that one of her other sisters had gone out on a date with him,” Daniel said
“Marjorie was a very hard worker,” said Daniel. According to Daniel, Holloway and her husband of 53 years built the house they lived in. “They lived in the basement while they worked on the floors above,” she said. “They were a very poor family. They did not have a telephone until 1958. Her father-in-law gave them a television in 1947.
Holloway’s husband passed away in 1992. She took care of him at home until he died, Daniel said.
Holloway also loved to garden. She grew both flowers and vegetables and canned the vegetables, especially green beans. Galloway reported that irises and roses were her favorite ones.
“Her son tells me she was able to snap off a rose stem, soak in water and then re-plant in soil,” Daniel said. Holloway also drove a tractor until she was 92.
Additionally, Holloway and her husband planted over 60 apple trees and several cherry trees on their property. She would only use Jonathan apples, and, according to her family, “she made the best apple pie ever,” Daniel said.
Holloway enjoys attending church services at The Wellington, according to Daniel. She was raised in the church and loved to sing hymns with the congregation. Her family chose The Wellington at Southport and found a “kind, friendly and welcoming community,” Daniel said. “Marjorie loves our soup of the day option!”
Holloway has one son, two grandsons and one great-grandson.
