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Stacy Van Buskirk/svanbuskirk@cherokeescout.com Johnny and Shirley Allen of Andrews were the winners of the Cherokee County Department of Social Services Older Americans Month story contest. The Allens and other residents ages 65 and older shared their stories in May. The contest will be an annual event.
The Cherokee County Department of Social Services invited members of the community ages 65 and older to share their life story for Older Americans Month.
Every May, the Administration for Community Living hosts the national observance of Older Americans Month, according to acl.gov. The theme for 2021 is “Communities in Strength”.
Adult Protective Services unit supervisor Daunita Maennle said she hopes the stories will become an annual event in May.
“It is something good to do in May before World Elder Abuse Awareness Month in June,” Maennle said. “From Mother’s Day to Father’s Day, the state of North Carolina observes Elder Abuse Awareness.”
The Elder Abuse Awareness walk is one of the ways Cherokee County DSS raises awareness for Elder Abuse Awareness Month. It was held June 15 at Konehete Park in Murphy and Valley River Park in Andrews.
The winning story was submitted by Johnny and Shirley Allen of Andrews. The Allen’s daughter, Crystal Johnson of Andrews, heard about the contest and decided to record her parents’ story.
“I got to hear about
the time when they were young and learn some
things I never knew about them,” Johnson said. “I’m glad I have the stories to share with my children and grandchildren one day about them.”
The Allens’ story was about their lives separately and together as a married couple. Shirley said she and her sister were raised by her grandmother after her mother passed when she was 5 years old.
She attended a one-room school in Andrews for colored children that went to the eighth grade. After she graduated, she attended an all-black school in Sylva and later took courses as a nurse’s aide and worked at District Memorial Hospital in Andrews.
Johnny Allen had a similar upbringing as his wife, as he lost his mother at 5 years old as well. He was raised by his father and stepmother, who was white, and at the time it was illegal for a mixed-race couple to live together. In total, the family had 18 children, and his father made $40 per week to feed the family.
As an older sibling, Johnny learned how to cook and as a young man, he fell on the wood cook stove and spent two months in the hospital.
Johnny’s father was known in town as a person who could “talk fire out of people” and he did that for Johnny to help recover from his burns. He said doctors in the area would send for his father when they had burn patients.
He attended Texana school in Murphy, it was a three-room building and only went to 10th grade. He said the children would go off to school in Ohio at a young age and he remembered being homesick.
Johnny was drafted into the U.S. Army when he was 18 years old.
“They didn’t even give me time to go home and see family before I got drafting papers in the mail,” he said.
“I went to Knoxville (Tenn.) and the lady said I wasn’t going back home, but I did go back home.”
He spent three years in Germany and finally got to go back home. Johnny met his wife when he was working at the Levi Strauss plant in Murphy.
“We dated for about 3 months and then got married,” he said. “It was love at first sight.”
The couple started a family together and continued to work and grow in the community.
Shirley said it was nice to tell their story to their daughter. “It’s not the whole story, but it is the short
version.”
The second-place winner was Grace Carringer of Murphy, who told about her memories from when she was undergoing treatment for stage II breast cancer in 2002.
“From this experience, I want to think that I am a better person, wiser, more tolerant of others and with a heart to help others as I have been helped.” Carringer said.
The third-place winner was Rosa Waters of Andrews, who told about her life story of being a girl from Ohio and working as a bouncer at a bar in Tennessee at one point in time. She also told about her cooking and being known for making the best carrot cake.
She also spoke about abuse at a young age and living with those memories.
“There’s a lot of things people need to know more about like the things I went through,” Waters said.
“The sad thing is, people like me have to learn the hard way.”