An
interesting visitor in Moore Haven this week is Mrs. Elizabeth Nealon,
of LaBelle, who is visiting her step-son, T. J. Dupree and family. Mrs.
Nealon is 93 years and 7 months old, and lives alone in a small
apartment in LaBelle.
"I tried living with other folks, and although I had plenty of friends
and we all got along well together, I just decided I'd like it best to
have my own place. I do my own cooking and housekeeping and my own
washing. I have always sewed a lot, both for myself and other folks,
but I've quit that now."
Mrs. Nealon is known as "Grandma" to everyone in LaBelle and as "Aunt
Lizzie" to nearly all the older residents of Fort Myers, Olga and
Sanibel Island, where she made her home for years. She said she knows
all about how women and children have to pitch in and help work during
war time. "Why, during the Civil War," she said, "I was old enough to
plow. We lived in South Georgia, where I was born and raised, and I'd
do my stint of plowing in the field all day. At night I'd come in and
spin three cuts of thread before I went to bed. Then I'd be up to eat
my breakfast by lamplight and go to the field again next day."
Mrs. Nealon said, "I've seen a lot of life, but not much of the world.
Somehow we were never people to roam about much. I moved when a baby
from Randolph to Quitman, both South Georgia towns, and lived there in
Quitman till I married. Then we did not move again till we came to
Florida, and lived on Sanibel Island, Fort Myers, Olga and LaBelle.
That's all the moving we ever did. This is the fourth war I've seen."
