The obituary in the Charleston, SC, newspaper last Thursday was datelined “Havana, FL” and I almost missed the notice of the passing on October 9, 2012, of a grand lady, Doris Alzada Henderson McNeely Segrest, 105 years old.  Teddy Roosevelt was President when Doris was born.

I was privileged to be her next door neighbor for more than 20 years in the classical bedroom community that is Hanahan, SC. She was always a lady with a calm demeanor and lively attitude about living. She forever had a smile on her face and a song in her heart. I guess she was about 92-95 when she stopped driving her own car, but when friends came to pick her up she was at the door of her house waiting and bounded into the idling car in lickety-split time and fashion. 

 (Not Doris)

While in her nineties she went to city hall one night during physical fitness week and gave the mayor and council a demonstration of how she used a small trampoline every day (which she slid out and under her bed.) Everyone at the council meeting, officials and visitors, was eye-popping amazed at her age and agility and joined in a hearty round of applause for her athleticism and devotion to keeping herself fit. One day her son Jimmie was visiting from Florida and he came to my house to borrow an electric drill. He wanted to put a handle on his mother’s trampoline so she could hang on while doing her daily jumps.

After the magnificent 13,200 feet cable-stayed Ravenel Bridge across the Cooper River opened in Charleston in 2005, Hanahan – not to be outdone - had its own bridge opening. This was the somewhat less than magnificent two-lane 1,200 feet bridge across Turkey Creek on Murray Avenue. A handicapped person could throw a rock across the creek, but that did not deter city officials, the school band, cheerleaders, scouts, civic organizations and hundreds of residents from turning out for the evening celebration and carnival-like atmosphere. Doris walked down from her house smiling to attend the festivities. She was warmly welcomed by all.

Doris asked me to come to her house one day to resolve a computer problem. Her computer was a keyboard attached to her TV which she used to send e-mails to friends and family. I had a modest amount of computer repair abilities, but I had no experience with her setup and had to admit I could not help her. She laughed it off and said some day she would get a real computer.

She was a regular church going lady, gave a few dollars every week to some needy cause and attended all the neighborhood holiday gatherings. She had a good appetite for a lady that probably didn’t weigh more than 100 pounds. Doris stayed behind in Hanahan when my late wife and I moved to Franke at Seaside in 2007-2008. Sometime after that she went to Florida to live with her son. I’m confident some of the souls in heaven will be on a trampoline once Doris gets settled in. She will be deeply missed by family and her legion of friends.