At 105, Annie Larmore of Georgia has led a full life. She has earned advanced degrees, had a 33-year professional career, raised a daughter, welcomed four great-grandchildren, and just last July moved into a senior-citizen community in Decatur that keeps her mind and body active.
And she’s not done yet. Larmore, who turns 106 on Feb. 28, is working on her memoirs. (She’s only into her 80s, so there’s much work still to do.) She’s also looking forward to April, when her alma mater, Wesleyan College in Macon, honors her as the school’s longest-living alumna.
“I personally feel I’m a miracle,” said the spunky Larmore. “I think the Lord still has something for me to do.”
Born in 1907 in Forsyth, Larmore grew up the daughter of a Baptist preacher whose dedication to education left an indelible mark. The Great Depression wasn’t enough to keep the family from pooling its resources and sending her to college.
“The family worked together; if one person had a job, they shared what they had,” she said. “My oldest brother had finished medical school, and he gave me money every month. Without them, I couldn’t have done it. At the time, we didn’t think anything about it because it was always understood we’d go to college.”
The world was a very different place when Larmore graduated at the top of her class in 1928.
“The only thing a woman could do then was teach school, become a missionary or get married,” said Larmore, who taught English for three years at a high school in Abbeville, and took summer classes to complete a master’s degree from Mercer University in 1931.
But what Larmore really wanted to do was work in a library. In 1931, she headed to Emory University, where she earned a degree in library science. There, she met her future husband, Jesse Carrell Larmore, and the two were engaged for 11 years as they struggled to save enough money to get married. When the wedding finally took place in 1941, Larmore was 35. The couple settled in Atlanta, where Larmore had one daughter and worked as a librarian for the city for 33 years.
Larmore now considers herself part of a new generation of adults living beyond the 100-year mark. She participated in a University of Georgia centenarian research project and plans to donate her brain to the project. But she still doesn’t know how to answer the question, “How does it feel to be more than 100?”
“I get asked that question several times a week!” she said with a laugh. “Truthfully, I’m shocked. No one in my family lived this long.”
Larmore, who uses a walker to get around, does say that keeping active, both mentally and physically, has played an important role. She keeps a detailed daily calendar; prepares her own taxes; and spends 20 minutes every morning doing exercises. She also takes yoga classes and attends lectures and recitals offered at her retirement community.
And she’s not shy about being an example to her fellow seniors.
“Every chance I get, I tell people who are retired not to just sit there and dry up,” she said. “You’ve got to enjoy retirement; if you just sit, you will get old — you don’t grow old. You’ve got to keep living to keep breathing.”
“Milestones” covers significant events and times in the lives of metro Atlantans. Big or small, well-known or not — tell us of a Milestone we should write about. Send information to hm_cauley@yahoo.com; call 404-514-6162; or mail to Milestones, c/o Holly Steel, 223 Perimeter Center Parkway N.E., Atlanta, GA 30346.
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