Joyner Reminisces on the Past 99 Years

Ninety-Nine years have passed since Cora Lee Joyner was born in the small community of Van, Arkansas. I visited with Ms. Joyner, and her daughter Gwendolyn Duncan, in her home on Friday, July 19, 2019 to hear her recollection of the past ninety-nine years and to find out what her secret was to a long life.

Born on July 6, 1920, Joyner was an only child. She attended school through the seventh grade in Van, and later met the man who would be her husband for forty-one years. Although her husband has passed on, their legacy will continue to live on for many years as Joyner is the mother of nine children and a grandmother to twenty-six grandchildren, thirty-nine great grandchildren, seventeen great-great grandchildren, and one great-great-great grandchild.

Joyner spent most of her life in Van, AR before moving to DeWitt in 1981. Taking a stroll down memory lane, she talked about attending school in Van, AR and said, “We walked to school every day. We didn’t have buses and it was about a mile to the school.”

Joyner had a pet horse that she would ride to the store and across the creek to her Grandmother’s house to get some butter. “She had cows, so I would ride my horse across the creek to get the butter”, Joyner said with a smile on her face. It was evident that she loved her horse! I asked her if she rode her horse to school ever, and she replied, “No. There wasn’t any water for the horse all day, so I didn’t ride it to school.”

When she wasn’t in school, she recalled the playhouse that she built with her cousin under a large tree. Smiling widely, you could tell that it was one of the most memorable times that she enjoyed herself during her childhood. Aside from the playhouse, Joyner loved playing baseball.

Bursting with laughter, Joyner recalled a time when her friends came by to pick her up, so they could all go out and her Dad wouldn’t let her go. “I told them to wait, I would slip out, and I did!”

Once she was old enough, Joyner helped her Dad on the farm. Some crops they farmed were corn, cotton, sorghum, peanuts, sweet potatoes, and popcorn. She explained how the sorghum molasses was made from the harvested sorghum. “They would strip the sorghum, lay it across a roller and cut the heads off. Then, it would go to the mill where they caught the juice off the leaves, and they would cook it down making molasses.”

When asked how they harvested the peanuts, Joyner stated, “You pull them up out of the ground and stand them up. When they get dry you would pick them off the stalk and bag them up.” Of course, harvesting machines weren’t available for them, so a lot of hard work went into harvesting each of the crops.

Joyner also explained the process of making the popcorn. “You shucked the corn and let it dry out, then pulled the corn kernels and put them in a bag. When you were ready to cook it, you put it in a pan on the stove and covered it with a lid and let it pop!” She giggled a little thinking back on popping the corn on the stovetop.

Maybe, it was the early years of farming that led to Joyner’s favorite thing to do in her adulthood, which was gardening. Looking back over the decades, she stated “I’ve lived through so many of them…When I could get in my yard and garden was my favorite.”

Although gardening was her favorite thing to do, she stopped in 2012 due to health reasons. Joyner’s daughter, Gwendolyn Duncan said, “She always gave away her first big cabbage to someone. She never kept it for herself, she gave it away.”

Featured in the June 16, 2011 edition of the DeWitt Era-Enterprise with a six-pound cabbage and again in the May 24, 2012 edition with an eight-pound cabbage, Joyner was always proud of her harvested vegetables. “I worked in my garden until I just couldn’t hold the hoe anymore. That’s when I knew I had to stop,” Joyner stated with a sigh.

It was clear that she truly missed working the soil, growing the large garden vegetables, and a multitude of vibrant flowers. Today, one of her daughters tends to the flower garden for her and when the weather allows, Joyner goes outside and enjoys sitting next to the flower beds.

While discussing how times have changed since she was a young child, Joyner said, “We didn’t get anything new when I was growing up. We didn’t have the games that kids today have. We played baseball and hide-and-seek.” She went on to say that kids today are blessed compared to what she had growing up.

When asked what big changes she has seen in DeWitt since moving here, she said “The city park. It is so nice to have it.” Joyner later said she enjoyed fishing and her favorite place to fish was in the park pond.

At 99 years old, Joyner never received her driver’s license. “I got in, started up the car, went around the shed and through the garden. Thank goodness the levee stopped me from going through the field,” she laughingly said. That was enough to make her never want to get a driver’s license or ever want to drive again.

Joyner has suffered from two strokes, a broken hip, and now has a rod in her hip, but she still moves around and goes outside in the evening to enjoy her flower beds. “I can go with my walker, thank the Good Lord,” she stated. Although she is ninety-nine years old, she is full of spunk and enjoys when company stops by to visit with her.

Recently, Joyner’s family, friends, and loved ones gathered together to celebrate her 99th birthday. She received many gifts, including a plethora of customized t-shirts, but the best part of it for her was having everyone there.

As the oldest living citizen of DeWitt, Joyner gives thanks to the good Lord for blessing her with ninety-nine years, and she said there wasn’t anything she would do differently. From attending school in the quaint town of Van, AR to working on the farm with her Dad and later maintaining her garden, it is evident that Joyner has been truly blessed in her ninety-nine years.

I asked Ms. Joyner if she had any words to offer people wanting to live to be as old as she is. She replied, “Work hard, live a good life, and don’t do bad things.” At ninety-nine years young, Cora Lee Joyner is proof that living a long life is possible!