Annie Pie's eyes twinkled as memories floated in and out of her thoughts: The dances at the little school just up the road where she both attended school and met the love of her life, Martin Lewis; the fashionable hats she collected and would wear to church every Sunday; Her mama and daddy, generous people who fiercely loved their community and passed onto their 10 children their neighborly ways - and a zest for cleanliness.
She recalled these stories from the comfortable armchair in her living room Thursday while dressed to the nines; A sparkly tiara rested on her soft gray curls and matched the glittery tennis shoes on her feet. Her manicured nails were painted cherry red.
It was only proper, after all. You only turn 100 once.
Annie Eliza Lewis, known to friends and family as Annie Pie, turned 100 on Thursday and to celebrate, loved ones will honor her with a 100+ car parade Sunday at 4:30 p.m. at St. James Baptist Church, 2169 New Market Road in Henrico County. Special guests include State Del. Delores McQuinn, State Sen. Joe Morrissey and former Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones.
Annie Pie “can put what’s happening today in a context so few of us can,” said her granddaughter, Felicia Cosby. “She lived through Jim Crow. Today, we face the new Jim Crow [but] this new movement gives her renewed hope during her twilight years for a better tomorrow for her community – I am thankful she is able to witness it.”
Born and raised in eastern Henrico, Annie Pie - affectionately given that name because her sweet potato pies were a family favorite - says proudly that she never smoked, never drank. She never learned to drive a car, even throughout a 30-year career at Thalhimer's department store. She raised five children with Martin, a man she called "a good husband."
These days, relatives take care of Annie Pie around the clock, which allows her to live in her late sister's house, a stone's throw down the road from the house where she grew up and later lived after she and Martin married. That house burned down years ago, on a Sunday night, she recalled. Fire trucks couldn't get water fast enough to save a single thing from it.
Her family and her church were among her greatest joys in life. She's been a faithful member of St. James Baptist Church, though in recent years, she watches services from a live feed on her television rather than attend in person.
It’s through her church that Annie Pie participated in the Civil Rights movement decades ago, Cosby said. The church had a strong NAACP presence, Cosby said, led by a man who Annie Pie’s parents helped raise as a child. Cosby said her grandmother and other family members would cook for meetings and events, and would help disseminate information to the community.
"One of the highlights of my grandmother’s life was being able to vote for our nation’s first black president,” Cosby said. “She never thought she would see the day.”
Now at 100, the family matriarch revels in the simple things in life and tries her hardest to be nice to everyone, as she was raised to do.
"Mama and papa, they weren't selfish people - they always helped the people in this community," she said, from her mother taking clean sheets to neighbors who were sick or having babies, to her father - a railroad worker - freely giving neighbors his farm equipment so they could tend their farms.
"I'm blessed, that's right," Annie Pie said matter-of-factly. "I have a family [and] we're a close family - mama brought us up that way."
July 03, 2020 at 05:15AM
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Henrico resident Annie Pie turned 100; Family will honor her Sunday with a parade - Richmond.com
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