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By BOB THOMASRadford Bureau ChiefVRADFORD — Shell be 100Saturday, and she’s looking forward to the party being thrown in her honor. At least 57 close family members will be among the throng helping her celebrate, including five of her seven children, 12 grandchildren, 20 great grandchildren^ and two great-great grandchildren. w “And there are two more great-greats on the- way!” says Elsie Lucille Kirby Austm, sit-ting on the porch of her family home in Radford.She was Jbom and raised in the house where she still resides. She left it for about eight years after her marriage to Albert Sherman Austin in 1917 -but they returned and later bought the house that datesback to the 1850’s. It is one ofr • • ’two remaining private residences in the blocks ajioiig lyier Avenue, right across from whatis now the Radford University campus.She was 10 before th§ teacher’scollege startedtqoccu.^ py the open fields she could seeacross the street from her home.« • • 1 , .“I watched the college go up,” she says matter-bf-factly. She recalls fondly the year she dated a young boy who cam^ from North Carolina to lay brick for construction of lyier Hall. When the job was done, he left, and that was the last she saw of him.But she says he “was the nicest man, and he brbught mecame over.vtingr andtalk^ candy;' But ajt lQ;pmv, her mother would m ake rfc clear that theha$ mrived, aiid off theboy yrent.sheSayswith a smile.Liicalle Austin was bom in an• . . ■ w * •,upstairs bedroom of the home. Later she and “Bunk”no one t ever called husband Albert anything else — raised six girls and a boy there. William Albert was right in the middle, and hb is cdled “Little Bunk.” Lucille says her children never sassed her, and they behaved. ‘‘No fight-►proud ofBob Thomaa/SWT“Am I really 100?” asked Lucille Austin, posing on the frontporch of her childhood home In Radford.✓ .ing was allowed,” she notes even soda.. xsternly. “They 0were good kids ” She made it clear she was in control, especially when their dad was away during the week, working as a brakeman for the railroad.It was while Bunk was working at NW in Rf^ofc^that h watched a young Lucille walk to school each day, and he kept his eyes on her to see if other boys were‘ bothering her. She didn’t finish high school because she became ill, and then she and Bunk got married, Lucille calls the marriage the best thing that ever happened in her life. Next were the children, “but I never planned to have seven. It just happened.” .She says her long life can be attributed to “hard work, looking after a family, and I never drank.” She still doesn’t, notShe and Bunk used to travel together after he started his own business, Austin Transfer. She helped him load and unload people’s furniture, remembering one time when a man asked if Bunk let his wife lift heavy objects. “Nothing morefrisn one end of a piano/ Bunk replied, lliey traveled to sudrplaces as Richmond and Norfolk, but not out ofShe reihembers all the ift Radfoifi, to biggest being the univers^ she rues the losses of doming and grocery stores downiown — like Piggly Wiggly, Bradley’s Dry Goods, and William’s Meat Market. She says {he shopping Center in Fairlawn brought* an end to downtown. As fora things to do, there wasn’t much, but there was a “picture show, the'childrenVirginian Theater,” that she sometimes attended.»Her mother lived to be about 90 - she’s not quite sure - and her father died at 66. Son, little Bunk, is now 75, and he said it’s OK if he, too, reaches 100.As for {he college, her special friend, RU President Douglas Covington has aSked Lucille, to serve as honorary chairperson for the college’s 2010 centennial. “Will I have to make a speech?” she asked.She is not really pleased with some of the changes at RU. “When Dr. Moffett was president, thinp were different.” One of those things is how kids act, the noise and the parties. “There’s more hooping and hollerin’ now.”When Dr. Covington asked . how she would improve the college, she spoke right up. “Tell those girls to put some clothes oh!” But she said Covington had not visited her recently and given her a big hug/ She misses that. But she does have visitors, who come by to talk and hug. She likes that.---Twoofher^chfidrenare^gone now. Iris Austin died of .strep throat in 1933, and Lottie Marasco died last year in a tragic auto accident that also killed Maryanne Stump. Lottie was a World War II nurse. Iris was only in her second year of high school. But the rest of the kids are arouhd, and will probably be at the party. Ernestine Miller, Little Blink, Sylvia Wright, Jolene Cox and Elizabeth Minor.Lucille worked in her church,too,^especially the kitchen. She recalls all the great dinners andevents at Grove United Methodist in Radford, where she’s been a membej* for 88 years. •There will be punch at her party, and lots of food, family and fiienda. She says she did not expect to be 100.What does she Want for her5 birthday?. “dust to be myself and feel pretty good. I enjoy life and have ei^oyed it. I don’t know how much is left, but I’m going to enjoy it.”i
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NA, 07 Oct 2020
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