May 29 will mark the 100th birthday of Easter McElroy of Carriere. She was born in Subuta one year before birth certificates became the standard. The only record of her birth is at the county seat records.

Soon after she was born, her family moved to Laurel where she grew up. She moved to Carriere, from Purvis in 1945, fell in love with Willie Robinson and married him in 1947. She’s been living in the same community since their marriage.

Her husband passed away in 1981, but McElroy stayed very active, living by herself until about five years ago when she moved in with her granddaughter Carrie Spencer of Carriere.

While she was still active, some of the things she loved to do was work in her garden with her flowers and to raise chickens. She loved it when the biddies would hatch out. Carrie Spencer, her granddaughter, remembers having to chase the chicks all over the house when they’d get out of their box under the light. She would make aprons by hand, and do a lot of embroidery. She always wanted to cook for you or feed you.

“And church,” Spencer said. “She loved going to church. The main thing she always did was pray. She said for us to pray all the time.”

Easter McElroy started out Holiness Sanctified, then when she moved to Carriere, she joined New Hebron Baptist Church with her husband, Willie McElroy.

“When Katrina hit, it took something out of her,” Spencer said. “She would always want to be in her room when it got dark. But during and after the storm, she never wanted to leave her room. Before the storm, she could get around a bit, but after the storm she can’t.”

Easter McElroy celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday.

She survives three brothers, R.C. Robinson, Fred, Robinson, Will Robinson, and one sister, Annie Lou. She has nine grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and numerous great great-grandchildren.