Mae Pippin has lived a long and wonderful life. Sunday the Milton resident at Sandy Ridge Nursing Home will celebrate her 100th birthday along with her family and friends. But at 100 she has outlived many of her relatives. "Mama wasn't too old when she died," Pippin recalled. "She was in her 90's when she passed on, but I am going to try to live a long time." Pippin, the daughter of Manfred and Missouri Wall, definitely work hard in her younger days.
"I picked 300 pounds of cotton a day," Pippin said. "My sisters and I would pick a bale of cotton every three days. "All six of us girls worked hard and wanted to do good." While she understood what a hard days work involved she was just like any other young person. "We went to Concord Church because my daddy was a Primitive Baptist and we went in a covered wagon," Pippin recalled. "But we would get in trouble if we got caught playing cards. "Every time daddy would catch us he would whoop us and then we would get some cardboard and make another deck." Early on for Pippin things were not easy as she went from the cotton fields at home to later work at Molten's Drug Store in Pensacola. "I worked there for 32 years selling cosmetics," Pippin said. "One time someone robbed the drug store and locked me in the bathroom. "They also robbed the grocery store next door." While those days, despite the robbery, were fond memories; Pippin still does not like talking about World War II. "I don't like talking about it because time were tough," Pippin said. "Every time something was available you had to go and wait in line. "The hardest thing to get was coffee back then and you bought everything with stamps." Despite the ups and downs of life, Pippin still loves to share a big smile and laugh, especially when you talk about playing ball as a child. "We had a goat that loved to play baseball with us," Pippin said. "Every time you bent over to field the ball the goat would come up and bump you. "One day I remember coming home and my daddy had that goat in the pot. No body ate dinner that night, not even my dad." While that was a hard time for Pippin, she remembers her dad going out to make a big purchase for the family, a car. "It was a 1929 T Ford my daddy bought for $500," Pippin recalled. "My daddy bought it, but he never drove it. I was the one who drove the car and drove everyone around." Pippin, who has just about literally seen it all, remembers making her children clothes on a foot peddle Singer sewing machine, which is still in the family and swears by Pond's Cold Crème when it comes to keeping healthy looking skin.
This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Pippin still peppy at 100