Ora Segars thinks motherhood is completely different now than it was when she had her son 58 years ago.
“It seems like a whole different world from when I was raising my son,” the 91-year-old Red Bay resident said. “It must be much harder now to bring a kid up. There are so many more temptations to teach them about.”
As Mother’s Day is just around the corner, Segars said that being a mother is one her most rewarding accomplishments. Her only child, Kelly, is a doctor in Iuka. He gave her three grandchildren Scott, Mark and Leigh Ann.
“They gave grandchildren the right name. They certain Iv are grand,” she said.
Ten months ago Segars discovered another joy. Grandson Scott, also a doctor in Iuka, and his wife Diane gave birth to their first son, Tyler.
The active toddler began walking at seven months, and his mother arid great-grandmother spent last Wednesday afternoon chasing him.
“By the time he is a year old, he’ll probably be driving a car,” Segars said as she helped him climb into her rocking chair. “He brings me a lot of happiness.”
Diane and Scott bring Tyler to visit usually twice a month.
Kelly makes the trip from Iuka every week.
Segars has lived on Old Vina Road all of her life. When she married Dock Segars in 1926, she just moved “down from the house on the hill.”
“I watched them build Red Bay. I watched them put down those railroad tracks,” she said, pointing to the tracks across her yard.
“Where Red Bay is now was a cotton field. We used to drive by the field when we were going to school, and I watched them build the first school.”
Segars remembers fondly the one-room schoolhouse. She told of dipping a bucket in a spring for water and of all the children drinking from the same dipper.
“The changes we’ve gone through since the good old days are mostly for the worse,” she said. “A long time ago people would help others when they were sick and do their work for them. There’s so much more violence now.”
Segars believes in helping her fellow man. Since she was widowed at age 64, she has taken in several people that didn’t have anywhere else to go. When they were able, they moved on, and someone else came in.
“I believe in helping people when I can,” she said. “You’re supposed to, you know.”
Segars had to help herself when her husband died. She learned to drive her 1955 green Chevrolet when she was 68 years old so she could get into town to buy groceries and go to church at First Methodist.
“I guess I was a coward not to learn before then,” she said. “I just want to keep stirring so I don’t miss anything.”
When Segars isn’t visiting with family or making a trip into town, she spends a good deal of her time reading. Although she enjoys a variety of topics, the majority of her reading time is spent with mysteries, religious books and the Bible.
“And I don’t need glasses to read, either,” she said with pride.
One of the few regrets Segars has in her more than nine decades of living is only having one child.
“I think I would have liked to have had four children. It’s tough on the child to be the only one,” she said.”But I reckon I did the best I could with the one I had. I think he turned out pretty good. He’s been awfully good to me.”
