THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 8, 1995 TAG: 9502070131
SECTION: ISLE OF WIGHT CITIZEN PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Linda McNatt
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
She had a standing-room-only crowd. At least four birthday cakes decorated the tables mounded with food. Flowers were everywhere.
And everything, including the mints and napkins, were her favorite color: lavender.
Last Sunday, Gladys Holleman Barlow did it her way.
And if you'd like a similar bash for some birthday, all you have to do is live to be 100.
Mrs. Barlow, the matriarch of a family that has touched the lives of so many people in Isle of Wight County, and Suffolk as well, reaches the century mark Thursday.
Watch for her name to be announced and her picture to flash across the screen on the ``Today'' show, when weatherman Willard Scott helps her and others who are passing the 100 mark to commemorate their big day.
Mrs. Barlow was born on a farm in the Mill Swamp community. She had to ride a mule cart to Smithfield, a boat to Newport News or Norfolk, a train to Richmond, a street car part of the way to the college - and the rest of the way, she walked.
That's how important it was to her to get an education, son Joe Barlow said at the party. It was just as important, he said, that each of her five children also get their educations.
When her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren decided to celebrate such an important event, they didn't know where to begin or end when it came to invitations.
So they put an announcement in the newspaper: ``The family of Gladys H. Barlow invites all relatives and friends to her one hundredth birthday celebration.''
When I got to Smithfield Baptist Church on Sunday - well, you would have thought that Billy Graham had decided to grace Isle of Wight County with his presence. I'm sure he wouldn't have attracted much more of a crowd.
``Maybe you folks will think twice next time you decide to say, `Y'all come,' I told daughter-in-law Taylor Barlow as she greeted guests.
Son Gene Barlow said his mother couldn't have been more pleased, even though nobody remembered until very late in the party that she'd had none of her own cake or anything else to eat.
Did she have any advice about living to be 100? Well, she may have. But she had no time to pass out advice at her party. She was too busy greeting well-wishers, talking with family and friends.
Her church honored her for years of devoted service to the church and community.
Westhampton College at the University of Richmond honored her as a member of one of the first classes to enter Westhampton. She graduated from Smithfield High in 1913, from Westhampton in 1917.
Mrs. Barlow taught for about a year outside the county and then came home to become teacher and principal at the Mill Swamp school.
Joe Barlow told one of the best stories to exemplify his mother's spirit and her generous nature.
She was well into her 80s, he said, when she decided it was time to volunteer in the local nursing home. She was older than most of the residents, and she quickly gained a reputation for dealing with some of the more testy residents.
On one particular morning, a staff member called Mrs. Barlow to convince a certain lady to do as she should. The distraught woman asked: ``Aren't you Miss Holleman?''
Mrs. Barlow, according to her son, said that, yes, that she had been Miss Holleman many years before. When the woman introduced herself, she said, ``You were my principal.''
After chatting for a few minutes with her former principal, the woman did exactly as she had been asked.
When others asked how she had gotten such cooperation, she explained, ``Why, I was her principal.''
What a lady. What a birthday bash. ILLUSTRATION: Photo by LINDA McNATT
Gladys Barlow, left, sits with her sister-in-law Louise Holleman
during Barlow's 100th birthday party.
by CNB