An ‘incredible woman’ celebrates 100 years
This picture shows Evadne O’Neal and her mother when Evadne was around six months old.
By Melissa Rollins, Editor, editor@newsandpress.net
Evadne O’Neal is sharp as a tack. At 100-years-old, she still makes her bed every morning. Until 2015, she still lived in her own house; these days she calls Pee Dee Gardens in Florence home. Friday, January 20, O’Neal had a party at the assisted living facility with old friends, new friends and her son, Ed.
Though O’Neal spent many years in the Pee Dee Region, she moved a lot in her younger years.
“I can’t really say where I grew up,” O’Neal said. ” My mother had to move a lot so I was all over. I was born in Trio, South Carolina and I lived in Hartsville for a while when I was little; I lived in Hartsville a while since then too.”
O’ Neal raised her family in Darlington.
Evadne O’Neal cuts her cake on her 100th birthday
Having reached a milestone birthday, O’Neal said she doesn’t really have the secret to long life, though there are a few things she has lived her life by.
“I would say the first thing is trust the Lord, O’Neal said. ” The second is work hard; that’s about the only thing I would say.”
O’Neal knows a lot about working hard, having had many different jobs in her lifetime.
“I’ve worked all my life,” O’Neal said. “I pretty well did everything starting from working on a farm to the dime stores and up; I worked on farms with tobacco and cotton. I ended up at Nitronics in Darlington, which is not there anymore. Any of it I’ve done I’ve enjoyed.”
Evadne O’Neal talks with a former co-worker during her birthday party Jan. 20, 2017.
Ed O’Neal said that his mother was a force to see when working on the farm.
“She could pick more cotton than anybody I know,” Ed O’Neal said. “She could pick 200 pounds a day; that’s the truth. I’ve watched her do it.
As if working didn’t keep her busy enough, O’Neal had four children, a girl and three boys; two of the boys have passed away.
“I was busy from the time I was born, I think,” O’Neal said. “When you sit down and look back you wonder how, really, you wonder how you did it.”
As part of birthday celebration, Ed read his mother two letters she received wishing her well for her birthday. One was from Governor Nikki Haley, the other from Florence Mayor Stephen J. Wukela; two presidential letters were also on their way: one from Barack Obama and one from Donald Trump.
O’Neal made the first cut on her cake, joking that perhaps someone else should do it because she was never a cake cutter.
Ed O’Neal said that his parents raised him right, instilling values in him that he still lives up to today.
“Dad always said a job worth doing was worth doing well the first time,” Ed O’Neal said. “Those were the ethics they raised me to live my life by.”
Photos displayed at the party included one of O’Neal and her late husband in his Navy uniform.
Though she didn’t see why everyone was fussing over her it was clear that O’Neal has meant a lot to a lot of people.
“This is a celebration that we rarely ever see so you are amazing,” said Susan Comer, Pee Dee Gardens Administrative Assistant. “Miss O’Neal you are an incredible woman and it is our honor to do this for you; I love you very much.”
