MANSFIELD — Beulah Turks is still cracking jokes at 102, but you have to lean in and listen.
Turks celebrated her 102nd birthday on Wednesday at Liberty Nursing Home. After a staff member told her family was on the way, she said it didn’t matter one way or another — as long as she got a slice of the birthday cake on the counter.
When you ask family members to describe Turks, the same word comes up over and over again — feisty.
“You never know what you’re going to get with her,” said Bridget Rodriguez, Turks’ granddaughter.
“She’ll say something and then she’ll start laughing, so you know she’s getting ornery.”
One thing Turks likes to joke about is her tobacco.
“She has been a snuff dipper all her life,” Rodriguez said. “She calls it her boyfriend.”
Turks was born in Evergreen, Alabama to Lilly Rabun Hill and James Alexander Hill. She grew up on a farm with her 10 siblings.
Liberty Hall’s chaplain Reggie Cureton said listening to Turks’ stories of growing up in the Deep South is like a history lesson.
“She talks about her life growing up, picking cotton,” he said. “For her age, she can remember a lot.”
Turks was never one to sit still
According to her family, Turks moved to Mansfield about 50 years ago. She lived on the corner of Lily Street, where a sprawling vegetable garden took up most of the year. She grew collards, tomatoes and spicy peppers.
“They make this thing down south called chow chow and my grandma would make it,” her granddaughter Rose Feagin said. “People would stop by her house on Lily Street to get jars of it.”
Turks also enjoyed going on walks and near daily visits to the Mansfield Opportunities Industrialization Center (later home to the Culliver Center and Ocie Hill Neighborhood Center.)
Turks’ daughter-in-law Rosa Perkins said Turks was never one to sit still. Cureton said that’s still the case.
“She’s a busy person. She’ll get to moving in her wheelchair, back and forth, up and down these halls and you have to put your foot down,” he said. “She keeps moving.”
Nicole Horston is a family friend, but calls Turk her grandma. She said Turks’ age is a testament to a life well-lived and family that continues to take good care of her.
“She’s a beautiful spirit inside and out. She knows how to give love and spread love. She still has a great sense of humor,” Horston said.
“She knows how to express her opinions. She’ll tell you how she feels. And if you don’t listen, she’ll repeat herself.”
Perkins agreed.
“She’s a kind, sweet person and someone that you’d be honored to meet,” she said. “I think the love of her family and that she’s been active has a lot to do with longevity.”
