A lot happened in 1925.
Calvin Coolidge was president. F. Scott Fitzgerald published “The Great Gatsby.” The television transmitter was invented. A silent film called “The Big Parade” topped the box office. A brand-new Charlotte City Hall opened on East Trade Street and plans were underway for a new Mecklenburg County Courthouse.
And Mamie Horton was born.
One-hundred years later, Ms. Horton is a client of Mecklenburg County’s Senior Citizens Nutrition Program. Most days during the week, she visits the Bette Rae Thomas Recreation Center in west Charlotte to have lunch and share vivid memories of a life well lived.
When Ms. Horton’s 100th birthday rolled around in March 2025, her Senior Nutrition family threw the kind of party that very few people get to have.
She’s a “Bearcat”
In the slang of the 1920s, one might have called a lively or vivacious woman a “bearcat.” That describes Ms. Horton today. She walked into lunch with little assistance and thanked everyone for coming out, saying it was a day she would never forget.
Her secret to a long life? She says a glass of red wine daily, and…
“Keep working,” says Ms. Horton. “The Bible doesn’t tell you to sit down. It tells you to labor, and labor means to work. God will retire you when it’s time.”
And labor she did for decades, working at such various professions as welder, vehicle maintenance, and in the mortuary industry, before retiring in her 80s after working at a supermarket deli.
The celebration featured mementos from Ms. Horton’s life. They included a 1920s newspaper article explaining how she and nine siblings were taken in by family in the South after the deaths of their parents near Youngstown, Ohio.
Ms. Horton eventually married after meeting her future husband in the fourth grade, she says, and settled in Charlotte’s Biddleville neighborhood. They had four children and two grandchildren.
Other mementos showed off her lifelong love of arts and crafts, and her talent at drawing.
“Keep Working” in a Changing World
Ms. Horton has watched Mecklenburg County, and the world, evolve over three-quarters of the 20th century, and the first quarter of the 21st. She has witnessed the evolution of radio, television, computers, smart phones, jet travel, space exploration, and 18 American presidents.
All while watching Mecklenburg County grow from a textile-mill community of about 50,000 residents, to a powerhouse financial hub of the New South.
Ms. Horton says she is thankful for Mecklenburg County’s Senior Citizens Nutrition Program, that the program and its camaraderie keeps her motivated. Ms. Horton’s advice to young people:
“Love everybody, keep working, and try to help wherever there’s need.”
Senior Citizens Nutrition Program
The Senior Citizens Nutrition Program provides nutrition support and socialization opportunities to people 60 years and older residing in Mecklenburg County, free of cost. To learn more, residents can contact Just 1 Call at 704-432-1111.
The Senior Citizens Nutrition Program is part of Mecklenburg County’s Services for Adults division, which provides assistance to seniors with a wide variety of resources, such as nutrition services, transportation, senior centers, adult day care, adult protective services, and much more. It is part of the County’s Department of Child, Family, and Adult Services.
