Annette John-Hall: In kitchen, in kinship, 105-year-old matriarch still the guide to go to
You notice her grip right away. As old as she is, you'd think her handshake would be feeble as a noodle. But hers is a vise, as if a pit bull had latched on and wouldn't let go.
You notice her grip right away. As old as she is, you'd think her handshake would be feeble as a noodle. But hers is a vise, as if a pit bull had latched on and wouldn't let go.
She signs my copy of her book, Aunt Sarah's Recipes for a Long and Spirit-Filled Life, written by great-niece Caryl Lucas, with a strong and sure hand.
There are so many remarkable things about Sarah Carter Perry Brown.
Drove until 90, her record blemished by only one accident (not her fault, she insists). Strutted her stuff down the Soul Train line at her Philadelphia family reunion, at 96. Outwalked relatives half her age on the way to see The Color Purple on Broadway, at 103.
But topped all of that this year. Not too many people left who can say they're old enough to have escaped lynch-hungry Jim Crow Georgia and lived long enough to vote for the first African American president.
But Aunt Sarah has.
And on Dec. 10, she'll turn 106, God willing.
"The Lord is just good to me," she explained the other day, surrounded by granddaughter Teryl Lewis, 50, and a host of nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and great-grandchildren at Meadowview Nursing Home in Williamstown, where she lives. "I wouldn't have made it this long if it wasn't for him."
The matriarch
New Jersey doesn't keep records of oldest residents, but I'm guessing Aunt Sarah's name would be up high, if not at the top.
Aunt Sarah, or Nana, as relatives lovingly call her, is matriarch of a large clan that stretches from Twigs County, Georgia, to North Jersey. It includes former middleweight champion Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a nephew who lives in Canada but tries to see his aunt whenever he's in the States, Lucas said.
It was the urge to preserve that rich family legacy that prompted Lucas to write Aunt Sarah's Recipes, equal parts historical, inspirational, and spiritual guide, sprinkled with tasty soul-food recipes, like peach cobbler and hoecakes, just in time for Thanksgiving.
Lucas, 48, a former reporter for the Star-Ledger in Newark, N.J., had always been captivated by her aunt's stories, so full of triumph and tragedy.
Aunt Sarah would talk of the time in 1924 when her family had to flee its farm after one of her brothers received death threats from the Ku Klux Klan. How the family settled in Philadelphia, where Sarah and a brother, the Rev. Hezekiah Carter, formed Mount Olive Baptist Church at 37th and Wallace. Another brother, King Carter, founded Mount Zion Baptist Church on Parrish Street.
The Carters eventually bought a vegetable farm in Monroeville, Gloucester County, where Sarah became expert at hunting and fishing, and concocting home remedies made from herbs.
Realizing that Aunt Sarah was the sole survivor of 13 siblings, Lucas embarked on a three-year mission to put her words to paper.
"There's a growing need in the African American community to learn the importance of our history, our rituals," she said.
And even though Aunt Sarah had only a third-grade education, "I was inspired by Nana's wisdom," Lucas said.
Pillar of strength
She gets around in a wheelchair now and isn't as feisty as she once was, yet relatives still look to Aunt Sarah for strength.
"Me and Nana got this connection. I think I'm her favorite," boasted Daryn Lewis, 26, a great-grandson. "I always have someone to talk to. She gives you life lessons."
And those hands, strengthened by years of physical work, are still strong and nimble enough to stir up some of her famous biscuits when she spent a recent weekend with Lewis, her granddaughter.
"My hands ain't what they used to be. If they say [the biscuits] were good, they were good," Aunt Sarah said.
Shadows began to sneak into the nursing-home sunroom. "Y'all making my brain turn round and round!" Aunt Sarah protested as a relative gently prodded her to answer yet another question.
"The Lord must not be finished with me," she cracked, her eyes sparkling. "Because he won't let me get away from you all."
Annette John-Hall:
Going on 106
Sarah Carter Perry Brown keeps a hand in the family mix. Annette John-Hall, B2.