ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 19, 1996 TAG: 9605200125
SECTION: DISCOVER PAGE: 2 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: TRACY GALLIMORE STAFF WRITER
"I am 98 years old, isn't that awful?" giggles Glenna Altizer Yeatts.
Yeatts is a living history book of the New River Valley - having spent all of her near-century in the valley.
For Yeatts and her family, the world revolved around a 200-acre Montgomery County farm on the Little River near where Virginia 8 crosses from Montgomery into Floyd County.
Born Glenna Altizer, Yeatts is the oldest family member in attendance when the large Altizer clan gathers for the annual family reunion.
When she was born in 1898, William McKinley was president, Mark Twain's "Pudd'nhead Wilson" had been in print for just four years, and horses and buggies were still the primary mode of transportation. It would be another 10 years before Henry Ford introduced the Model-T.
Her family of 11 brothers and sisters grew up on the Montgomery County side of Little River. Her mother, Caroline Cummings Altizer, was a school teacher, and her father, James Altizer, was a farmer.
"We walked to a one-room school," said Yeatts. "One winter when I was about 7 or 8, my teacher gave me a pretty card with roses on it for perfect attendance that I kept for ever so long. We went every day, even though there was a lot of bad weather that year.
"We would play charades on winter nights. Then we would say our prayers and go way upstairs. The bedrooms would be cold, but our beds were nice and soon we would be warm and fall into a sound and peaceful sleep."
Summer days on the Altizer farm were spent picking berries and canning vegetables. In the evenings, the family sometimes attended revivals or enjoyed box suppers. During the heat of July and August, the family cooled off with ice cream made with fresh fruits.
"We kept a little boat tied at the edge of the river," said Yeatts. "Since we didn't have any bathing suits back then, we'd pull out some old dress and run down to the river bank and jump in. We could never get our mother to come in with us, though. She loved to sit on the bank in the sunshine and watch us carrying on in the water," Yeatts said, laughing. "Good gracious, we had a wonderful time."
Yeatts, when not working beside her siblings on the farm, loved to read. "I always loved a good book, still do. I like a book with a little bit of love in it.
"Dating wasn't like it is now. On a summer evening, our beaus would come to the house. They knew to stop and say hello to Daddy, who was usually sitting on the porch visiting with his friends.
"We courted in our parlor. My mother ordered the wallpaper from Sears and Roebuck and our parlor was just as pretty as it could be. We had a piano and we would play while our boyfriends sang. Boys could sing back then, honey."
When she was 19, Yeatts went to Radford Normal School and earned her teaching certificate but married before she had the opportunity to teach.
Today, as she nears the century mark, Yeatts still greets guests with a big smile, clasps your hand warmly and welcomes you into her room at Heritage Hall nursing home in Blacksburg. She is slight and somewhat fragile, but her deep-set eyes are clear and her voice is strong.
Yeatts came to live at Heritage Hall when she was 90.
"The Lord still blesses me every day. Look here what one of my great-grandsons brought me, a little bag of pretty onions. I love onions."
Yeatts looks around the room she shares with another resident and, one by one, counts her blessings aloud. Her side of the room has a window, so she is able to look out and enjoy the day. Her bed is covered with a colorful crocheted afghan.
She points out the gifts her family and friends have brought her when they visit. On one wall is a framed needlepoint of a church in a valley. On another wall are portraits of her family. Yeatts and her husband, Palmer, now deceased, raised three children, Naomi Altizer and Doris Phillips, both of Christiansburg. Their son Basil Cooper is deceased. Yeatts has four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
"They are so good to me here," said Yeatts of the staff at Heritage Hall. "They treat me like family.
"We have a good church service and we have good food. I love the preaching and singing. I might get a little bit homesick, but I never get lonesome. Someone is always stopping by to say hello."
Yeatts offers a bit of wisdom.
"You know, one thing I know for sure, if we don't have love, we don't have anything. I love so many people, honey. And they know it, too."
We should all be so blessed.
LENGTH: Medium: 87 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: 1. GENE DALTON/Staff. Glenna Altizer Yeatts has enjoyedby CNB98 years of love, life and laughter - and she's still enjoying. 2.
Glenna Altizer Yeatts is the girl standing at the left in this
family portrait taken in 1907.