Griffin Speaks
LIVE TO BE ONE HUNDRED
Most
people like myself would like to live a long and healthy life. One of the
first things that I do every morning is retrieve my Montgomery Advertiser
and turn to the Obituaries. I tease my wife and children and tell them
that I do that to make sure that my name is not included. They laugh and I
laugh, but I am serious.
When
you reach a certain age you begin to think about the end of life. I look at
old photos and am pleased when I make comparisons to the way I look now and
the way I looked back then. I haven’t changed very much. This is true
mostly because of a secret a very dear friend shared with me years ago.
Mrs.
Fannie Bingham lived to the ripe old age of one hundred and one years old.
She was healthy and active until about two weeks before she passed away. She
drove her yellow Pinto from Tuskegee, Alabama to Los Angeles, California
until she was well into her nineties. In fact I spoke with her a few days
before she passed in Los Angles, California where she lived during the
summer. She spent her winters in Tuskegee, Alabama. Mrs. Bingham was sent to
a nursing home and she was not happy. She asked me to come to California and
get her. I told her that I could not pick her up because I was not a
relative. She said, “
Gregory, I have been placed in a nursing home and I am no sicker than that
sign post that I see outside my window.” She refused to eat and
died soon thereafter.
When
Mrs. Bingham passed away she was Tuskegee University’s oldest living
graduate. I use to attend her college reunions and could hardly keep up with
her. We would always be the only people sitting at her reunion table. I
would tell everyone that I was Mrs. Bingham’s new husband. We would all
have a big laugh. She graduated on May 27, 1915 and received her diploma
from Dr. Booker T. Washington personally. Mrs. Bingham, Dr. Booker T.
Washington and Dr. George Washington Carver were personal friends. Dr.
George Washington Carver, a professor at Tuskegee Normal and Industrial
Institute (now Tuskegee University) gave Mrs. Bingham a hand-tattered purse
as a graduation gift. He also shared a secret with her about the peanut that
she guarded for many years.
Dr.
George Washington Carver told Mrs. Bingham that if she ate at least three
peanuts a day she would live to be at least one hundred years old. I guess
she ate four a day because she lived to be one hundred and one. Since Mrs.
Bingham was so active and healthy, people would always ask her for the
secret to her longevity. She would tell them that she used peanut oil inside
and out. The complete story was “Three Peanuts A Day”
I
miss my friend very much. Debra
and I still have the wedding gift that Mrs. Fannie Bingham gave to us. It
was a beautiful lead crystal bowl given to her by Eleanor Roosevelt and her
husband President Franklin Roosevelt. Mrs. Bingham served as a nurse in the
1930’s for one of President Franklin Roosevelt’s children when he was
the Governor of New York State.
Since
her passing in 1996 I have eaten at least three peanuts a day. I also
remember that my first boss Dr. A.G. Gaston ate peanuts every day and he
lived to be one hundred and three years old. My wife’s grandmother, Mrs.
Amy Lou Lawrence is another big fan of peanuts and she is ninety-three years
old. She will be ninety-four years old on August 13th. She just
returned from a flight to Chicago, Illinois a few weeks ago.
I
don’t know about you but I am going to continue my peanut therapy, because
I am like James Brown, I feel good!
Greg
Griffin is a free lance writer. You can read his previous articles by
visiting his web page at www.greggriffin.com
