She has a standing order with her kids for chicken from KFC on Wednesdays and a meal with many of her children on Thursdays. She has seen Niagara Falls and New Orleans, and points in between, but she has built her life in eastern Burke County.
By all accounts, Floy Fortenberry has lived a happy, full life that, every so often, has been marked by loss.
On Oct. 24, Floy reached a milestone when she celebrated her 100th birthday.
She has trouble hearing nowadays and she gets help walking with a cane, but her mind is sharp. She rattled off names, ages and dates as she talked about her life.
Floy Fortenberry looks at a photograph of herself holding her daughter, Judy Anderson, when Judy was a toddler.
Seated on a stool at her kitchen table, Fortenberry spoke about growing up in the George Hildebrand community not far from where she lives now. She shares the home she and her husband, Fred, built with her daughter, Judy Anderson.
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One of six children of Walter and Bessie Burns, Fortenberry attended elementary school but had to drop out after fifth grade to help take care of things at home. Her mother died when she was 7 years old and the youngest of her siblings was 6 months old.
She said as each one grew up and got married, the next one had to step up and start doing the housework and cooking.
“So I had to start cooking and cleaning the house pretty early,†Fortenberry said. “But we made it. My daddy took care of us and we made it.â€
At about 21 years old, she married Fred Fortenberry on Jan. 26, 1946. The couple raised a large garden, canned the vegetables and produced most everything they ate.
Judy Anderson, left, and her mother, Floy Fortenberry, go through family photos in Floy’s kitchen ahead of Fortenberry's 100th birthday.
The couple had eight children and Floy stayed home to raise them, never working outside the home.
It was a happy home, she said.
“Jerry said one day, he said, ‘We never did get no whoopings, did we?’ I said, ‘No.’ I said, ‘I didn’t give you none.’ Fred didn’t give ’em none, I don’t think. I think he gave Wayne and Charlie a little whooping one time for doing. But he wasn’t nobody to, you know. Some people just beats their young’uns pretty good. But Fred wasn’t somebody like that.â€
Floy spent much of her time cooking for her family. Anderson remembers her mother’s fried chicken as particularly good. The family had a dessert with just about every meal, Anderson said.
“She cooked all the time,†Judy said of her mother. “All her food’s good, though.â€
While Floy had to drop out of school, she proudly shares that all her children graduated from high school.
Framed family photographs, stuffed animals, and other decorations adorn Floy Fortenberry’s fireplace on Oct. 14. Floy and her husband moved into the home in 1949, raising eight children.
Her children will gather on her birthday Thursday, but one will be missing.
Floy and Fred lost their son Danny, who was 29 years old, in a tractor accident in 1981.
“And that hurt awful bad,†Floy said. “But, you know, you have bad things in your life and you have good things in your life. So somebody said, ‘Well, you had to take the bad with the good, or everything would be bad.’â€
It was in 1985 that Floy lost Fred.
Floy Fortenberry holds up a photo of herself and her husband, Fred Fortenberry, who died in 1985.
After that, Floy traveled with her brother-in-law, Jessie, and his wife, Mavis — Floy’s first cousin —on some Christian Tours to various places. She said in February they could go on a three-day trip.
“Jesse said, ‘Well, it was just a three-day trip, but he said it might take a day to get there and a day to come back. But he said if you hadn’t never been there, you seen a lot on the road,’†Floy said.
With her humble nature, it’s hard for Floy to sum up all that’s happened in her 100 years.
Floy said a lot happens in life when you live as long as she has.
Floy still tries to help out around the house — like drying dishes — as much as she can. And while she can’t attend in person, Floy and Judy watch Wilkies Grove Baptist Church services on a tablet every Sunday. It’s the church that Floy has belonged to her entire life, Judy said.
Floy attributes her long life to hard work and good health.
The outside of Floy Fortenberry's home on Oct. 14. The home was built by her husband, Fred Fortenberry, in 1949.Â
