Tuesday, October 14, 2008

100th Birthday Celebration

This past Sunday, October 12, Barbara and I attended the 100th birthday celebration of Grace Neely. It was a wonderful tribute to a remarkable lady.

Grace was the wife of Russell Neely, a truly great friend of mine from my old Coca Cola days. Russell was hired around 1949 as Treasurer. We developed a close working relationship and I will always cherish my friendship with him. He came to Coca Cola from Stratford College where as best I recall he was in charge of book keeping. Mr Ray hired him to take over the accounting functions of Coca Cola and he did a tremendous job in that capacity.

I did not know Grace very well during those years but did know her and will always remember what a gracious lady she was.

In their retirement years, they opted to enter an assisted living complex called Westminster Canterbury which is located in Lynchburg, Virginia. It is one of the most luxurious facilities of its kind I have ever seen. Barbara and I visited Russell and Grace many times prior to my contracting Myasthenia Gravis. We always found them in an excellent mood and they never failed to show their appreciation for our visits.

Russell passed away in the late 90s and Jack Setliff and I attended his funeral which was held in his home town of Pamplin, Virginia.

Grace was getting very hard of hearing and was going blind which really put a stress on her since she was so accustomed to Russell reading to her. As a matter of fact, Russell had expressed concern about her not having someone to read to her in the event he passed away before she did.

Thankfully, there was a lady that took up that function by visiting Grace each Friday and reading a book of her choice. I seem to recall this lady saying she was from a local Church and was thrilled to be a part of Grace's life.

The function was well attended [approximately 55 attendees] by people from as far away as Utah which was a real tribute to her.

Barbara and I learned to love Grace and were so fortunate to be invited to her 100th birthday event.