Newspapers / Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.) / March 22, 1984, edition 1 / Page 13
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ft cIhe<: * %% ^I l |\ mf *r ; v< \^H V BKi WPSr^Mi# ^Ii2 ^ ^l^yU-. * ^ m ^5T ^B ..:-fe: ;JT V HC <w*j *aw ^ v' jr\%. ^a^BLe**, "JCSijC< ... Ajfir ___ w* ^^E|S t~ ^ . - i j4J I , i < ) Betty Lyons knew that she was having; visitors last Wednesday afternoon. After lunch, she changed into a brown floral print dress, added a string of her favorite beads, tied*a fashionable scarf around her neck and combed back her cottony white hair. Mrs. Lyons has fixed up for a lot of visitors during \y her lifetime. After all, she is 118 years old. I didn't know how old I was until couple of months ago," Mrs. Lyons said. "I ain't ashamed to say that I didn't have much learnin'. I do know that I'm uh Junebug, born on June first." Until January, Mrs. Lyons lived by herself at her family home in Lewisvilie. She now lives in the Rogers Family Home on Greenway Drive, "they say this is a home for the old add broke down," she said. But any visitor to the home will know that Mrs. ^ Winston 's Dehai By AUDREY WILLIAMS Chronicle Staff Writer A lot of walls were knocked down, doors widened and gallons of paint used to convert the old house on Third Street that served as a residence for administrators of the old hospital to what it is today. ? .1 i i J : ? fcxactiy two years, one weeK ana one aay ago, Mayor Wayne Corpening cut the ribbon marking a dream come true for members of the Winston-Salem Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc. as they opened the Delta Arts Center. The center is a subsidiary of Delta Fine Arts Inc. "We have had very good support from the community," says Simona Allen, a member of the Delta Fine Arts board of directors. "It is our goal to increase cultural awareness and we feel that we're always improving, but we haven't arrived." The Delta Arts Center is the only organization of its kind to be started by members of Delta or any other black sorority in the country, and the members all agree that the center is a model for others. In 1972, the Winston-Salem Delta Fine Arts Inc. began offering cultural and educational projects featuring black American artists. By 1980, the sorority's alumnae chapter here had begun to establish itself as a true promoter of the arts and culturual awareness. The chapter's sponsorship included major art ex? iMagazin E^Sl2!?jM^3 mrza W SfifeT^Z B^. |^^^KSIHID9V \^^HT L *<! -v-; jv':H|mR^|^ Jlufl iff 5522i22S2^fi^^^H' Nk ' -j<">^SH i v ' jsyj^^EH Bk K J ^rBB 3 Br?< ^P' Bwi, 11B irllv 1 # > /\jr| ; ^emiL^X:,?jA ' ? I ' ;Mto 'l^Bii>^ ** .i'? *T ?*mMMJ6&*H I ^ ? I \ ^Sgi? I t .^iw^nHBBLTgiMm. rlP^P 118Years Of I Story by Robin Ad Photos by Jamef F She uses a walker, but Only for support. Until she moved to Winston-Salem, she attended New Hope AME Zion Church in Lewisville regularly. She still cdmbs her own hair, makes her bed, has a keen sense of humor, and at the mention of the word song starts "hollerin*" her favorite tune. With the exception of cataracts and "a little high blood pressure and rheumatism - although they calls it arthritis now," she's fit as a fiddle. How has she done it? "I just got will power and faith that keeps me goin'," she said. "1 ask the Lord to help me, but I don't sit and wait for him -1 git on up. 1 ask him to help, not to do U all. , . E "I always believed in livin' right and lovin' > , ' - ~ . i celebrate secant hibitions outlining the black presence in America from the beginning until now, a contribution of 18 pieces of 19th century furniture now on display at the North Carolina Museum of History and the purchase and donation of six pieces of art by black North Carolinians to Winston-Salem State University and the performing arts. From there, members of Delta say they realized they had established themselves enough to seek a central operating base. Gathering exhibits and sponsoring art shows was easy, say the members, compared to Inratino a nprmanpnt hnmp fnr fhp rpnfpr Aftpr plans failed to materialize for the purchase of an old city fire station, Allen and other members of the Delta Fine Arts Board say they began to search even harder for an operations base. "We went on faith, hope and determination," says Allen. "We didn't even have a model to pattern our center after." "Many times while we were trying to secure the fire station we didn't have a prospect for home," says Wilma Lassiter, a member of and former president of the Fine Arts Board. "Yes, we did feel hopelessness. But we always believed we would find a place, though." Finally, after months of searching, the WinstonSalem Housing Foundation and the developer of the East Winston Homes, which is adjacent to the center, Please see page B5 T e Section #^\ |M ^Bl M * % jt^ J^^k KL It fws& * v Hf |^V v vV| I I ? '-^iHlL ' Im tei U ^L W . * ?Mm| I 'ii^i^^] 11 ^ Hr . . <]^B[^n ^Bfb 1HBPv/ ?^H I t B VHQgH Mite. Ikb ^1 ^1 I ^ S I ^ jjaa El 1 II I U B1^ IlE 1 II IflK&SMM* I B ?EBI u I B ^r l_^_^^^^BBBi Ihmm| Mrs. Betty Lyons doesn' ante-bellum South, for she - Born a year after tJu old. She can remember whi other "odd" inventions got cent rating to get her facts ams about spring, or reminisci history lesson after another ^nvkpV Before moving to the Ro? urner jn January, she lived in he story in words and pictures everybody/* she said. "The Bible says to honor your father and mothei^and your days shall be long. And that's what I did. That's what I've tried to do." if ?k? ~r e i ?? it niv lyv^w uiiciii ui juwiai ocvumy nasi taituiaicu correctly, Mrs. Lyons was born in 1866, one year after the Civil War ended and before airplanes, televisions, telephones and railroads arrived in Davie County. I remember when they first started the railroad. I didn't know much about them when they came through. They was new to me," she said. "I also remember the first phones 1 saw. They was the kind that hung on the wall and had to be cranked. Now they got phones with numbers. I never did learn how to dial, but when it rings I answer it." ? To have lived over 100 years means that a person VI -v v " > ? ' ^v" >v'.? I anniversary of a a 'v.* * %; v .v > % 1 r g?i ^jjjEiSfrf IWPWPW?^^ I pyj^j IJ ^ J ^BBSHKS %* .uwSBBHBSHj HBfc^?^%y*%L -V ^ MIm Louise Smith, left to right, Mrs. Simons Alien second anniversary of the Delta Arts Center (phot I * I Section B Thursday, March 22, 1984 il* -9 t T % |^. JI \ I X" y I I " ^BMBP? ivi ^ JHHRBRr *1 HHHI1HH t need a history book to learn about the knows the history firsthand. \ ? C/V/7 War ended, Mrs. Lyons is 118 years ?n the first train, telephone, television and to her native Davie County. Whether constraight, standing on the porch thinking ng by the fireplace, Mrs. Lyons is one ?ers Family Care Home in Winston-Salem r family home in Lewisville. Here is her has a lot of wisdom to share with the world and Mrs. Lyons is no exception. But her wisdom comes in a i small package. "Always try to live right and be honest," she said. "Live so you can have friends. And I believe that I got plenty friends, unless they foolin' me. "The world today ain't like it use ta be," she said. "The Bible-says that every generation gets weaker and wiser. And that's sho the truth. Folks now knoyfj too much." f Mrs. Lyons, who was married twice and has two sons, also has some advice on how a woman should^ treat her husband: "Just be nice and sweet to him \ every day and don't start no argument. If he's mad,, \ just wait 'til he cools down. Then say to him, 'We :q * Please see page B9 Iream come true 1MBSBF i and Mrs. Wllma Lassiter are busy planning the o by James Parker).
Winston-Salem Chronicle (Winston-Salem, N.C.)
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March 22, 1984, edition 1
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