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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?
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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
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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
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I anniversary of a a
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MIm Louise Smith, left to right, Mrs. Simons Alien
second anniversary of the Delta Arts Center (phot
I
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Section B
Thursday, March 22, 1984
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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).