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Woodlands resident celebrates 100 years of life in Texas
  
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By LAUREN HODGES
Mabel Evans, of The Woodlands, turned 100-years-old on Jan. 4 with a family celebration. Evans is a resident of Unlimited Care ... Personal Care Cottages.
Evans nephew and his wife came up for the party. The Owners of Unlimited Care Buck and Terri Buckholtz hosted the party.
“They provide really outstanding care,” her son Phil said. “It was such a god send to find out about them.”
He said they were fortunate to be able to locate the cottages.
She was also recognized by presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton who sent her awards wishing her a happy birthday.
Evans has two sons, Phil, 70, of, The Woodlands, and RD, 75, of Houston. She has three grandchildren Kim Evans, of Houston, and Kay Amendola and Kay’s husband Chris, of Bellaire. She has two great grandsons, six-year-old Gannon and one and a half-year-old Garrisson Amendola.
Mabel is also joined by RD’s wife Nelly Don and their son Kyle and his wife Rosanne, of Houston.
Mabel’s husband Reginald D. passed away in 1987. Before he passed away they celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. The couple both lived in Houston Heights and had mutual friends who introduced them. RD senior was a welder for Hue’s Tool Company.
“He was a very accomplished advanced welder,” Phil said. “He worked on oil drilling bits.”
During the war his father worked two shifts a day for the defense industry.
“He would be home enough time to sleep and go back to work, seven days a week,” Phil said.
He said Mabel held down the fort while his dad was working. Phil said once they were old enough, which seemed to come quickly his mother felt they should help out.
“She said we would appreciate it some day and we stayed busy,” he said. “And when we didn’t get caught, stayed out of trouble.”
She worked as a secretary for a shipping company that sent out ocean vessels before having children. Mabel also supported her husband by taking care of the billing in his ornament shop.
In 1939 the family moved to Garden Oaks into a brand new home that Phil’s uncle built.
“They lived there for 45 years,” he said. “And moved just north of that to Candlelight Plaza until she moved into an assisted living home in her 80’s.”
She said when she was a child the world was completely different. Mabel group up in the small town of Palacios outside of Houston. She lived in Houston most of her life, spending three years in Dallas. Mabel was part of the first graduating class of John H. Reagan Senior High School in 1926.
“Children used to be taught to mind their parents and teachers,” Mabel said. “They don’t do that today too well.”
She grew up with four brothers, two were half brothers. Mabel’s mother remarried after her first husband past away.
Mabel said she doesn’t waste time thinking about what she could have done during her 100 years. Her children where her pride and joy, despite what trouble Phil claimed they caused.
“She forgives a lot,” he said. “We were not really all that bad. Just little pranks like trick or treats and fireworks in tunnels where a police car was going the other way.”
Phil said he would sit on a railroad car with his brother and throw roman candles into the passenger cars.
“Generally, we celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving,” he said. “We were a typical middle class American family. I took for granted how our family loved one another and went to church. I feel really blessed.”
She said she remembers when airplanes and cars were introduced. The family used to travel to Europe and California and Mabel tagged along on several trips.
“We would take an annual trip through California and Florida,” Phil said. “And up into the Ozarks and the Smokies. We started our car trips after World War II. We’d go to the Rocky Mountains to get away from the Houston heat.”
Mabel now suffers from dementia and uses the help of her family to jog her memory. After experiencing hearing loss the family purchased a graphite board to write questions for her.
“Four years ago we relocated her,” Phil said. “So my brother could be with her.”
Mabel has strong vital signs but deals with the pain of osteoarthritis daily which is her biggest disability. Phil said after breaking her ankle her physician put a cast on her that created pressure sores.
“They wanted to amputate,” he said.
Phil was not going to let his mother loose her limbs, so he went to the Southeast Texas Center Wound Care and with the help of his wife Mary Anne, the sores began to get better.
“My wife has a real special quality to help old people,” he said. “She would clean the wounds and with the help of the doctor, two years later she was healed.”
Phil said she was going strong up until her late 80’s. He said she was always on the go and every vacation they shared they had to slow her down so they could keep up.
Phil said he makes sure that she follows doctors orders and stays on a good diet of protein. He said growing up, his mom made sure they always ate right.
“We always had a diet of protein and starch and a vegetable,” Phil said. “My mom was always moving, she said ‘busy hands are happy hands.’”
He said she was a great cook and was known for being independent and fastidious.
“Everything was meticulous,” Phil said. “You could eat off the floor. I did once when I dropped one her pies.”
He said she mastered folding fitting sheets and everything was always neat and orderly. Mabel was involved in her church, taught summer school and spent time as a member of the Young Mother’s Club. Mabel was 25 when she had RD and 30 when she had Phil.
Mary Anne said in an e-mail that Mabel spends most of her time reading Christian material and was a member of Garden Oaks Baptist Church for more than 50 years.
Evans nephew and his wife came up for the party. The Owners of Unlimited Care Buck and Terri Buckholtz hosted the party.
“They provide really outstanding care,” her son Phil said. “It was such a god send to find out about them.”
He said they were fortunate to be able to locate the cottages.
She was also recognized by presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton who sent her awards wishing her a happy birthday.
Evans has two sons, Phil, 70, of, The Woodlands, and RD, 75, of Houston. She has three grandchildren Kim Evans, of Houston, and Kay Amendola and Kay’s husband Chris, of Bellaire. She has two great grandsons, six-year-old Gannon and one and a half-year-old Garrisson Amendola.
Mabel is also joined by RD’s wife Nelly Don and their son Kyle and his wife Rosanne, of Houston.
Mabel’s husband Reginald D. passed away in 1987. Before he passed away they celebrated their 55th wedding anniversary. The couple both lived in Houston Heights and had mutual friends who introduced them. RD senior was a welder for Hue’s Tool Company.
“He was a very accomplished advanced welder,” Phil said. “He worked on oil drilling bits.”
During the war his father worked two shifts a day for the defense industry.
“He would be home enough time to sleep and go back to work, seven days a week,” Phil said.
He said Mabel held down the fort while his dad was working. Phil said once they were old enough, which seemed to come quickly his mother felt they should help out.
“She said we would appreciate it some day and we stayed busy,” he said. “And when we didn’t get caught, stayed out of trouble.”
She worked as a secretary for a shipping company that sent out ocean vessels before having children. Mabel also supported her husband by taking care of the billing in his ornament shop.
In 1939 the family moved to Garden Oaks into a brand new home that Phil’s uncle built.
“They lived there for 45 years,” he said. “And moved just north of that to Candlelight Plaza until she moved into an assisted living home in her 80’s.”
She said when she was a child the world was completely different. Mabel group up in the small town of Palacios outside of Houston. She lived in Houston most of her life, spending three years in Dallas. Mabel was part of the first graduating class of John H. Reagan Senior High School in 1926.
“Children used to be taught to mind their parents and teachers,” Mabel said. “They don’t do that today too well.”
She grew up with four brothers, two were half brothers. Mabel’s mother remarried after her first husband past away.
Mabel said she doesn’t waste time thinking about what she could have done during her 100 years. Her children where her pride and joy, despite what trouble Phil claimed they caused.
“She forgives a lot,” he said. “We were not really all that bad. Just little pranks like trick or treats and fireworks in tunnels where a police car was going the other way.”
Phil said he would sit on a railroad car with his brother and throw roman candles into the passenger cars.
“Generally, we celebrated Christmas and Thanksgiving,” he said. “We were a typical middle class American family. I took for granted how our family loved one another and went to church. I feel really blessed.”
She said she remembers when airplanes and cars were introduced. The family used to travel to Europe and California and Mabel tagged along on several trips.
“We would take an annual trip through California and Florida,” Phil said. “And up into the Ozarks and the Smokies. We started our car trips after World War II. We’d go to the Rocky Mountains to get away from the Houston heat.”
Mabel now suffers from dementia and uses the help of her family to jog her memory. After experiencing hearing loss the family purchased a graphite board to write questions for her.
“Four years ago we relocated her,” Phil said. “So my brother could be with her.”
Mabel has strong vital signs but deals with the pain of osteoarthritis daily which is her biggest disability. Phil said after breaking her ankle her physician put a cast on her that created pressure sores.
“They wanted to amputate,” he said.
Phil was not going to let his mother loose her limbs, so he went to the Southeast Texas Center Wound Care and with the help of his wife Mary Anne, the sores began to get better.
“My wife has a real special quality to help old people,” he said. “She would clean the wounds and with the help of the doctor, two years later she was healed.”
Phil said she was going strong up until her late 80’s. He said she was always on the go and every vacation they shared they had to slow her down so they could keep up.
Phil said he makes sure that she follows doctors orders and stays on a good diet of protein. He said growing up, his mom made sure they always ate right.
“We always had a diet of protein and starch and a vegetable,” Phil said. “My mom was always moving, she said ‘busy hands are happy hands.’”
He said she was a great cook and was known for being independent and fastidious.
“Everything was meticulous,” Phil said. “You could eat off the floor. I did once when I dropped one her pies.”
He said she mastered folding fitting sheets and everything was always neat and orderly. Mabel was involved in her church, taught summer school and spent time as a member of the Young Mother’s Club. Mabel was 25 when she had RD and 30 when she had Phil.
Mary Anne said in an e-mail that Mabel spends most of her time reading Christian material and was a member of Garden Oaks Baptist Church for more than 50 years.
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