Elena DeRosa

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For many graduates across the valley, soon the time will come for them to leave home. Some will attend out-of-state colleges; others will begin their careers elsewhere. Some will return; others only for visits. It is rare that I encounter Roanokers who were born, bred and always stayed here, so it was a real treat to meet Lucy Coon.

Southwest Roanoke County resident Nancy Vaughan introduced me to her gracious, 100-year-old mother, who chatted with me at her Friendship Retirement Community residence.

"I really don't know much, I kind of just lived my own life and done things my own simple self," the impeccably dressed, well-coifed Coon said.

Born March 20, 1907, in Roanoke County, Coon was the oldest girl of nine children. She lost a sister to the 1918 influenza that Coon still remembers.

"So many people died. They couldn't even get caskets to put the people in," she reminisced. "It was a horrible time; there was but one doctor around the county and he traveled by horse and buggy."

Without many options available for treatments, Coon recalled, "Our medicine was homemade liquor, mixed with a little water and sugar." Although her family never drank, Coon said, "It was the only thing that kept the family going. Then they got OK."

At 15 Coon went to work at the silk mill. In 1927 she married Lee Jackson Coon. The couple bought some land in what's now the Clearbrook area, and in 1931 moved into a house they built. In 1948 the Coons, who by now had a daughter, Mary Frances, were shocked to learn that U.S. 220 was going to run right down the middle of their house.

"They told us they were going to take our house," Coon said. "I'll never forget that because it just made my husband sick. He worked hard, saved his money and built his house. They wanted to buy it, but they didn't want to give him anything much for it."

The family picked up and moved to North Roanoke County where daughter Nancy Lee was born. From the home where she would remain for most of her life, Coon and family would walk a good mile to catch the city bus to head downtown.

"Downtown was the only place to go in Roanoke," Coon said. "There was the Park Theatre, American Theatre and the Jefferson. They had all the stores downtown."

One of Coon's favorite places to go was Woolworth's. "That's where you always got your egg salad sandwiches," she explained.

Other than a favorite ice cream store or Woolworth's lunch counter, Coon said they didn't know much about eating out in restaurants then.

"There wasn't much you could do, go see relatives, or go on picnics," Coon said. When they finally got a television it picked up just two channels, but if they hung out the window and twisted the antenna, they might pick up one more.

"I love country music. I'd watch Tennessee Ernie Ford. I was thinking about him and that song he sings about a birthday coming up, 'She's another year older and deeper in debt,' that's what he would say," Coon chuckled.

When I asked Coon what she likes to do these days, she said with a smile, "It's not what I like now, it's just what I can do."

I wondered if she had any advice for this generation. "Family should stay together, close to each other and help each other," Coon said. She paused, and then added, "Well, you can give advice, but they're going to do what they're going to do anyway."

Some things never change.

Elena DeRosa's "The Front Porch" column appears regularly in the South edition of Neighbors.