Hewell celebrating special birthday

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‘We didn’t have everything, but we had enough’

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Pictures from the past (almost) 100 years hang on the wall of Martha Elizabeth Vickery Hewell’s room at Nancy Hart Nursing Center in Elberton. 

The photos represent milestones of Martha’s life, from her childhood with her siblings and parents, her wedding day and photos of her two children. 

Martha will experience her next milestone on Oct. 22 when she celebrates her 100th birthday. 

A native of Elbert County, she was born in 1919 to Judson and Harriet Vickery as the seventh out of their eight children. 

Martha referenced a framed photo that hangs on her yellow wall of her father, mother, her oldest sister Eunice, and three of her other siblings when talking about her family. 

When she was five, her parents moved the family of five girls and three boys to the Little Five Points area of Atlanta. Her father Judson died six years later when she was 11. 

Martha said her father’s death and the beginning of the depression years were difficult for the family, but her older sisters were a great help. 

“Those older sisters...I am still grateful to this day for how they helped me...not only me, but all those that were living at the time my father died,” Martha said. “Things were not easy. Buying groceries was not a thing like it is today.” 

The family stayed in Atlanta throughout Martha’s school years until her mother Harriet moved her and her younger brother Jim to Bowman right before she graduated high school. She graduated in the 1938 class from Bowman High School. 

Before graduating high school, Martha met a boy named Clyde Hewell on a blind date. 

“We fell in love,” Martha said. 

Their wedding picture from July 21, 1940, hangs the closest to her bed, above a picture of their two children: Susan and Clyde Jr. 

Martha’s favorite thing about Clyde was his “love for the children.” 

“He was so proud of them,” she said. 

She and Clyde enjoyed doing many things together. Clyde was a member of Elberton’s Rotary Club and they would go club conventions and meetings with their friends. One picture showed her and Clyde with Dr. Joe Campbell and his wife, Margaret at a convention. 

Two other pictures hanging on a corkboard next to her bed showed she and Clyde participating in their favorite activity: square dancing. 

“That was our life,” Martha said. 

The couple would travel to Athens with some friends and use the local schools as locations for their square dancing clubs. She and Clyde were even presidents of the club a few years after they started the activity. 

“We enjoyed it. It was fun at the time,” Martha said. “Good exercise.” 

Along with all of her pictures, a letter from a division of Southeastern Power wishing her a happy birthday hangs on her wall. Martha worked for the company for over 30 years and loved what she did. 

“I had a good job, I was thankful,” Martha said. “We didn’t have everything, but we had enough.” 

Martha’s son, Clyde Hewell Jr. died in 2002, and her husband Clyde Hewell Sr. died in 2011. He and Martha were married for almost 71 years. 

As Martha plans to celebrate her 100-year milestone next week, she’ll have two very special people at her side: her daughter Susan and her friend Diane Atkinson. 

Atkinson has been working for Martha for the past four years. She helps her with her care at Nancy Hart Nursing Center and she works at her home on Tusten Street to prepare for when Susan visits. 

“(She) is my right arm and my left arm and half, three-fourths of my brain,” Martha said. “She’s wonderful. She’s just a friend and she helps me. I can’t do without her.” 

Susan, now Susan Hewell Guinn, lives in Myrtle Beach with her husband John. She comes to visit Martha every month. She is planning a part for Matha’s 100th birthday celebration. 

As she looks back on her 100 years, Martha said she’s been frequently asked what the secret to a long life really is. 

“Love the Lord with all your heart,” Martha said he response is. “He will, in time, provide all the answers.”