WAVERLY, Tenn. (WTVF) — Three new friends of ours will tell you life always has adventures to offer. They've just taken on the unexpected in grand style.
Sunday was a good day to be in the beauty salon at Humphreys County Care and Rehab. That's because Joyce Meredith, Alice Hickman and Roxie Little were all there.
"Roxie, do you mind if I ask how old you are?" I asked.
"106," she nodded.
You know these three tell it like it is.
"Are you proud to be 106?" I asked Roxie.
"No," she answered matter-of-factly.
"I know I'm a nut!" Alice laughed. "I've always been a nut!"
The three of them were getting gussied up for a very high profile event.
"No, I ain't nervous," Alice said. "What am I going to be nervous about? I ain't nervous about nothin' cause I'm here with friends!
Loyce Holland runs the gown and tuxedo place called Loyce's in downtown Waverly. Loyce was having an event a few doors down at Samuel's on the Square. A crowd filtered through the doors Sunday afternoon for a fashion show. Tickets sold were for scholarships for local high school seniors. The fashion show was looking for another three models. Now, where could they find another three models?
"Have you ever strutted down a runway before?" I asked Alice.
She took a long pause.
"No."
"I may get up and dance a jig on it!" Joyce said. "Yup. I never did a fashion show because I had the seven brothers and then I had three sons. Go figure!"
Alice worked on a farm. She said, actually, she's never worn make-up before. What a way to start.
"Be in here acting like a fool to me!" she laughed.
For Roxie, what's happening is actually a little throwback.
"Were you in a beauty pageant?" asked a woman in the beauty shop.
"And I won!" Roxie said.
A picture from the 1930s shows Roxie at that pageant.
"Did you always want to do another beauty pageant after that first one?" I asked Roxie.
"Yeah," she smiled.
After a little time in the salon, Alice wanted to talk honestly about some of the hard things we can be given in life.
"When I had my stroke, I don't remember names," she said. "I may not remember for two or three days. It bothers me that I cannot remember stuff that I know. It's just crazy."
Alice said when life offers up a new adventure, something that's going to do good for others, you take it.
"You look beautiful," a woman in the beauty shop told Joyce, her makeup now finished.
"Honey, I'm gonna strut my stuff," she said.
"I'm gonna do the best I can with these old girls!" laughed Alice.
It was showtime. Dozens of locals strutted into the venue wearing tuxedos and gowns from Loyce's. A crowd cheered as each model walked by.
"I never dreamed of something like this," Alice said, walking toward the venue.
The crowd cheered as Alice, Joyce, and Roxie entered, each escorted by a young man from a local high school.
"We're just having a good time and hoping other people enjoy it too!" Alice said.
"I hope they see we're pretty," she said about the crowd. "We're old women, and we're still beautiful women. We're still beautiful. Now, how do you ya like that? That's just the way I feel about it. I might not make it out that door. I know that, but I'm going to live as long as I can, and I'm gonna live happy."
Tell it like it is, ladies.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
