Newspaper, Profile of Mary Elizabeth "Pick" Whatley Pipes, LaSalle Parish La. Copied by: Tia Morris Masters Submitted by: Kathy LeMay Kelly, P.O. Box 219, Trout, La. 71371 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From the Jena Times - Olla Tullos Signal September, 1, 1999, Section C, Page 1 Thank You to the Times -Signal for allowing the following to be added to the Archives. A times-Signal Feature...."Citizen Profile" A very Special Salute MOST ACTIVE PERSON IN LASALLE... FOR HER AGE She is the most active person in LaSalle Parish for someone her age that is. This week's Citizen Profile was born on May 9, 1901, making her 98 years old. However, if you were to meet her on the street (and you probably do) you would never guess her age. Most people less than two years shy of 100 years old still alive are resting comfortably in a nursing home facility, but for Mary Elizabeth "Pick" Pipes, that has never been an option. She lives by herself, still drives to town for visits, groceries, etc., and is an avid Bridge player. Mrs. Pipes was born and raised in the Eden community, just east of Jena on LA Hwy. 8. Her parents were Joseph and Susie Young Whatley and she had four sisters and two brothers. Mr. Whatley was a merchant and farmer who had a general store, two cotton gins, raised cattle and produce, and also served as the Eden Postmaster for many years. As was accustomed in those days, she was born in their home, which is just about a half of a mile from where she lives today. Her given name was Mary Elizabeth, but just a few days after she was born, she was given a nickname of which she would be known for the rest of her life. "My aunt, my mother's sister, took one look at me with my somewhat darker skin tone and started calling me ‘Auntee's Little Pickaninny'," Mrs. Pipes said. "My dad agreed with her and it was shortened to just Pick, and that's what I've been known as all my life." Growing up in the small Eden community produced many wonderful memories of which she still recalls with detail today. Her most vivid memories center around the man who she calls, "the greatest dad there ever was." "My dad and I were big buddies," she said, "I was a daddy's girl and proud of it. I loved my dad and still think he was the greatest man ever to live." Mrs. Pipes remembers many things about her dad, but oh his family," she said. "One thing that he always wanted us to do was he had everyone come to meals. He always insisted that the whole family be at the table for ever meal. We're talking about nine people at the table every-time." Mr. Whatley would also take his children on trips, sometimes far away (like Shreveport) and sometimes nearby on camping expeditions. "One of my fondest memories is the couple of times he took us to the State Fair in Shreveport," she recalled. "We would catch the train at Trout and ride it all the way to Shreveport. We thought the State Fair was the greatest thing we'd ever seen." Mrs. Pipes also remembered simple fishing trips at Trout Creek near White Sulphur Springs. "We'd spend the night right by the creek and daddy would fry the fish we caught for supper," she said. "It seems like everything was more simple back then." This brought Mrs. Pipes to comment on the differences between families of today and those of yesteryears. "Families were closer back then than they are today, it seems to me," she said. "People today are always in a hurry and don't have time for simple things like eating together and visiting others. Now they are too busy watching television and messing with that Internet. Back in the old days we always had time to visit and spend the day with each other." Although they didn't have electricity growing up, Mrs. Pipes does remember when her dad installed a carbine system and had beautiful colored lights in the house. She also remembered the families first automobile, and even though her dad purchased the Ford car he never learned how to drive it. "I was 13 years old when we got that Ford with that rubber horn," she said, "my dad tried to drive it but he ran off the road the first time and said he'd stick with the horse and buggy. My older brother drove the car and then I learned how to drive it. We would drive the family everywhere." Mrs. Pipes attended school at Fellowship Elementary School and remembers as a six-year-old girl having to walk the three miles to the school house. "When I was going to school, and this is the truth, we had to walk three miles and cross two creeks just to get there," she said, "and then after school we'd have to do it again to get home. After a while, dad cut us a path through the woods and put logs over the creeks for us to make it a little easier." "Kids now-a-days can't realize what we went through just to go to school," she continued, "they can't even walk a block now." After elementary school she attended Jena High School and graduated from there. She then went to State Normal College (now Northwestern State University) in Natchitoches, and attended there for over a year. While she was in college she met a man named Jay Pipes and as Mrs. Pipes put it, "that ruined college for me." "He put a stop to a lot," she said. "He wanted strictly a wife and nothing else and I was glad to oblige." They got married in 1923 and set up residence in Jena where Jay Pipes became a teacher and head basketball coach at Jena High School, a position he ehld for many years. Over the next few years they would raise two daughter, Mary Sue Peace, a retired school teacher from Sicily Island, and Janine Jones, a retired home economics teacher, who once served in Olla and later retired from Lake Charles where she continues to reside. Today, the pride of her life is her four grandchildren, six great- grandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren. As Mrs. Pipes puts it, "the more they come the finer they get." Besides her family, the most important part of her life is her God and her association with her church. She was Christened as a baby at Eden Methodist Church and has attended the church as a member all of her life. "The church was organized in 1788 and we went there as a family all of our life," she said. "Mother would get us all ready in the morning, pile us up in the buggy, and bring us to church." "In those days people really honored the Sabbath day better than we do today," she continued, "there wasn't a Sunday that we missed...it wasn't even thought about. If it was Sunday, then we were in church." Mrs. Pipes also noted that families today should be closer than what they are if parents are going to make an impact on their children. "Parents need to spend more time with their children and as a family together," she said, "they should make sure they are in Sunday School and church and get their children involved in the different youth leagues available for them." When asked what she would like to be remembered for, she quickly responded that she hoped she would be known as a woman who loved her husband and loved her children. "I'm awful crazy about my husband," she said, "I really don't think marriage means as much today as it did back then." Concerning marriage, Mrs. Pipes had some concerns about the way the honored institution is being treated today. "What about all this shacking up?" she asked, "I don't believe in living together until you're married. All this gets back to what the kids are being taught at home, and that gets back to the parents not having any time to sit down and talk with their children about the really important things in life." In 1976, a tragic car accident in Tullos claimed the life of her husband of over 50 years. Mrs. Pipes lived by herself for some eight years after the accident until her d I wasn't going into a nursing home and so some 15 years ago Ray Bailey moved a been a blessing." You would think that she would slow down since her doctors orders, however, she continues to be independent even today. "I don't get as much done as I used to, but someone told me recently that I've got as much sense as I did twenty years ago," she said. She has been on two different cruises, traveled all over the United States and visited Canada three times. Her last cruise she took when she was 78 years old and that was to the Holy Land and Egypt. "Somebody asked me on one of those cruises why I didn't re-marry," she said, "I told them I was too old...you know, people still ask me crazy questions like that today." Mrs. Pipes still drives her car to town to buy groceries and take care of business, but she notes that she is extremely careful. "I don't drive to Alexandria or Monroe, but I will drive around here," she said. "I know I don't have any business driving but I haven't had a wreck in I don't know when...I'm careful, real careful." One of the places she drives to is Ginny's in Jena for her regular meeting of playing Bridge every other week. She pointed out that many of her old friends have since passed away, but she does have several younger friends that she classes as "good, true friends." "We get together and just have a good time playing Bridge all day long at Ginny's," she said. "We don't do any of that cut-throat stuff, we just relax and have a pleasant day visiting and playing." At 98, Mrs. Pick Pipes is sharper than ever and is truly one of LaSalle's finest residents who is still very much a part of her community and church. So the next time you meet a bluish Ford Crown Victoria on the street and a sweet elderly lady behind the wheel, just smile and wave because you have just met the most active person in LaSalle Parish. We salute this week's Citizen Profile, Mrs. Mary Elizabeth "Pick" Pipes. Caption under photo. MRS. PICK PIPES stands next to a photograph taken of her and her late husband, Jay Pipes, at their 50th Wedding Anniversary, just three years before his death. Mrs. Pipes notes that today, many years later, she is still "crazy about that man."