A LOOK BACK AT SENIOR CITIZENS

This Sunday, August 21, has been designated as Senior Citizens Day.

The term “senior citizen” is not a particularly old expression, having  first been in print in the 1930s. With medical advances and the expansion of knowledge of what promotes good health and longevity, there are many more senior citizens in our midst than in former times.

Jan. 12, 1886—“What is your doggie’s name, Daisy?” “Damn.” “Why, you wicked child, where did you hear that word?” “Why, Marion—that’s what Uncle George says, ‘Damn the dog.’ O, how careful older persons should be—if they are going to use profane language at all, not to use it in the presence of little children, for they are imitative and think that what older persons do or say is smart, and they try to repeat and act the same way.

Feb. 13, 1903–Dr. Bracken, of Flint Station, seven miles south of here on the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, has just undergone a painful operation for having a large tumor removed from his back near the spinal column. The operation was performed by Drs. Wilson, Kitchens, and Barclift, and it proved to be a most successful operation. Dr. Bracken is doing nicely. Dr. Bracken is one of the oldest and most successful and best known physicians in the county.

Feb. 24, 1903–Capt. Joe Robinson of this county has been appointed by Governor Jelks as one of the guards at the state penitentiary at Wetumpka. Captain Robinson is quite a noted character. He was a musician in the Confederate army and in one engagement at Athens his bugle was shot out of his mouth. He still has this bugle and prizes it very highly. The mouth piece is gone, it having been shot off while the captain was playing & quot;Dixie & quot; during the engagement spoken of. Captain Robinson attends every annual encampment of the old Confederate soldiers here and always takes this bugle with him.

Feb. 12, 1906–There is a man in an area poorhouse who had not until recently, had a bath in 40 years, according to his own admission. The man is old and now requires the almost constant attention of a nurse and regular visits from a physician. Recently the doctor and nurse both registered a vigorous protest against giving him any further attention until he had conformed to some of the recognized laws of sanitation, or, in plain English, took a bath. The man rather reluctantly submitted to the novel process. When asked how long since he had bathed he replied that the last bath that he took, that he remembered, was directly after the Civil War. The date of the previous bath was lost in the mists of the middle of the nineteenth century.

Jan. 11, 1909–One of the pioneer citizens of this county, Sam Dutton, died at his home near Basham Gap last Friday. Mr. Dutton was about 71 years old and lived here all of his life. He was buried at the Herring grave yard.

Jan. 27, 1940–John D. McClanahan, Morgan County’s only surviving Confederate veteran, celebrated his 96th birthday anniversary today. He was a resident of “old Hartselle” when the town was located a short distance north of the present site and he built the first house at the present location. In 1867 he was ordained a minister in the Missionary Baptist church and is now in his 73rd year in the ministry. He is the oldest active minister in the state.