Page 26 - South Mississippi Living - January, 2023

PEOPLE
Three Centenarians Living Life to the Fullest at Seashore Highlands Retirement Community
story Cherie Ward
photos by Arielle Victoria and courtesy of Seashore Highlands Retirement Community
Cleo Taylor.
So let’s meet these extraordinary women.
The Southern Belle with a Musical Family
Taylor, 102, grew up in Vancleave and she is known throughout the retirement community as a true southern belle – sharply dressed with an independent yet genteel style and attitude, and an ability to get her point right where it needs to go. She’s even been known to call for a taxicab when it’s time for her to be somewhere important.
Her most endearing life focus was being a wife and mother but she also did secretarial work in the Vancleave School System. Her late husband was an extremely talented musician, performing and recording several records with his gospel group. That talent was passed down to her children and grandchildren, and several of them are successful musicians as well.
She tells stories of her family’s first radio and listening to the Grand Ole Opry in the 1930s. She recalls being heartbroken when President Franklin D. Roosevelt died in office in 1945, near the climax of World War II, and praises the arrival of life-saving penicillin in the 1940s.
Her only regret? That technology didn’t come along sooner. She loves her computer and uses it daily to shop and catch up on current events.
26 | January 2023
www.smliving.net | SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living
One hundred years of living full, satisfying lives the right way has resulted in three local centenarians inspiring everyone they meet with sassy and playful senses of humor.
Cleo Taylor, Bobbie Barbee, and Lois Jones all reside at the Seashore Highlands Retirement Community in Gulfport, and with more than 300 years of charmed living between them – they
have stories to tell and people to inspire each and every day.
“Consider that each of these women was born into their local communities before they
had electricity,” said Jennifer Persechino, executive director at Seashore Highlands. “Not many people even had cars, and World War II still lay years into the future. Yet even then, each of them had clear ideas about what they wanted from life – and today, they are still realizing some of those same desires. Watching them live, love, and laugh today is always an inspiration to us.”
Charmed Living