105: Centenarian Lula David compares her youth with that of teens today

Lula Lay David was born during a decade of simplicity and turmoil.

Life expectancy was 47 years for white females, 46 for white males, and 33 for blacks, according to kclibrary.lonestar.edu. The average worker made less than $13 in a 59-hour work week, and the San Francisco earthquake, costing more than $4 million in damages, claimed 700 lives.

But life wasn't so bad in Jefferson, Ga., in 1905 she said, the small community in Northeast Georgia where David was born. She grew up there on a 100-acre farm with her parents, six brothers and a sister.

Her father made a "decent" living selling food he grew on the family farm, she said. And at 105 years of age, David has far outlived the life expectancy rates.

A resident of Chattanooga since 1945, David, who stands just under 5 feet tall and weighs about 90 pounds, has vivid memories of her childhood.

"Life was hard but good," she said. "We all worked on the farm and we did what our parents told us to do. And we went to church a lot."

She recalled her father as being "masculine and tall," and her mother, who she said loved to cook, was "tall and fat."

"They were stern," she said. "If they'd tell you to do something, you'd do it. If they told you to sit up, you'd sit up."

David, who lives independently, is recovering from a minor illness and temporarily staying with her niece, Grace Ragland, in East Brainerd. Ragland's father, who died around 30 years ago, was David's brother.

Ragland credited her aunt's longevity to a positive outlook.

"She's never stressed," Ragland said. "I don't see how she does it, but I've never seen her upset and I've never heard her say anything bad about anyone."

Kindness, David said, is her key to happiness.

"It's simple," David said. "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. That's what I've done my entire life. I treat people the way I want to be treated."

Ragland said her aunt is an inspiration to family and friends.

"I wish I were more like her," Ragland said. "I can be dogging somebody out and she'll say it's not that bad. I should take lessons from her."

David soon will return to her downtown apartment where she cooks her own meals and cares for herself. Family and friends check on her often, Ragland said.

David neither smokes nor drinks alcohol, and consumes mostly vegetables and chicken, Ragland said.

"Until about four years ago, she was still traveling," Ragland said, noting that her aunt particularly enjoyed Las Vegas.

"It's very pretty there," David said. "I'd still be traveling if I could. I say if you can go somewhere, go."

David moved to Chattanooga in 1945 with her husband, Curtis David.

"He came here to work," she said of her husband, who died in 1978. They had no children. "I never married again because I'd never find another man like him. He always had a job, worked hard and he brought his money home. He was a good man."

David was an elementary schoolteacher. Early in her career, she taught several grades in a small schoolhouse, her niece said.

But as she aged, she spent most of her time involved in church activities, where, until a few years ago, she sang alto in the church choir.

Though she lived during the civil rights movement, David said she never personally experienced racism.

"Even in my younger days, where I lived, blacks and whites got along. We shared what we had with one another, including the food from our farms," she said. "White people and black people have always been nice to me."

Though David couldn't recall the first time she voted, Ragland said her aunt has never missed the opportunity to vote, including in the last election. She was particularly thrilled to see a black man elected president, Ragland said.

"I never thought I'd see a black president," David said. "I think he's very nice and he has always been nice to blacks and whites."

David keeps her mind sharp by reading and working puzzles in the daily newspaper.

"I also read the Bible and read the news in the newspaper," she said.

Did she think she'd live to be 105?

"Lord no," she said. "But it happened. No one thought it would."

One of the biggest changes she has seen in her lifetime is the mobilization of America, she said.

"Back then it was hard to go anywhere. You had to ride the bus or the train and it cost a lot of money. It was a big deal to travel. Today people can go anywhere they want," David said.

"Everybody's got it easy today. Back then, we all had to work to take care of ourselves," she said. "Children worked as hard as their parents but children have it easy now. Young people can be anything they want to be. Life today is not hard at all."

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