Centenarian Charlie Surry always attributed his longevity to a happy disposition, home remedies and holding no grudges.
Known as a hard worker, devout churchgoer, Golden Rule follower and avid fisherman, Surry didn’t let anything get him down.
That includes two bouts with prostate cancer that he believed were cured by his mother’s homemade herbal tea.
“I’ve always been happy. Even as a kid, I was a happy kid,” he said in an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article after he turned 100. “And later, I have tried not to let things really bother me, because I realized that when I do, I just end up hurting myself.”
Surry of Atlanta died of cardiac arrest on Sept. 29 at the age of 107. His funeral was Wednesday at Greater Pleasant Hill Missionary Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Born on Dec. 29, 1907, in Montrose, Ga., Surry learned early on to make the best of whatever life threw his way.
He grew up on a farm, the second of seven children. After his father’s death when he was 10, he quit school in the fifth grade to help his mother with his younger siblings.
At age 16, he moved to Atlanta and got a job at a dairy, earning 20 cents an hour.
After serving in the Army three years during World War II, Surry returned to Atlanta. He got a job at a printing company that made telephone books and worked there for 39 years. He met and married Gladys Lane.
At age 45, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. His mother, a herbalist, and her friend concocted a tea from herbs they snipped from the woods near his childhood home in South Georgia and near his home in Atlanta.
“Back then, people couldn’t go to the doctor all the time. They came up with home remedies to treat themselves,” said his niece Patricia Noble of Decatur.
Surry drank the tea, and his cancer went into remission for nearly 60 years. Convinced his mother’s herbal remedy would keep him healthy and cancer free, he began making the tea and drank it off and on for the rest of his life.
Over the years, he stayed active, upbeat and in relatively good health.
“He was always particular about his health and his weight,” his niece said. “He always watched what he ate.”
When the cancer returned when he was 104, he rebuffed traditional treatments.
“The tumor was there, but it wasn’t growing. He didn’t get sick from it,” his niece said. “At that age, he felt his quality of life was better without someone cutting on him and giving him chemotherapy. He was still living good, eating good and enjoying his life.”
Surry loved going to church, where he served on the deacon board. He tended a garden and shared his bounty of vegetables. Gifted at carpentry and handy with a plumber’s wrench, he always was willing to help a neighbor fix a broken sink or repair a roof.
Fishing was his favorite pastime. After retirement, he could be found on a bank with a rod almost every day. If he caught a good mess of fish, he’d share them with friends.
Most of all, he was known for his positive outlook on life and his commitment to treating others with respect and love, even if it was not reciprocated.
“He was a very religious man and very low-key,” said Atlanta native Al Townsend, who met Surry when he was a boy. They later served together on the church deacon board. “If someone talked to him in the wrong way, he’d just say, ‘I’ll pray for you.’ He was a humble person.”
Surry also was a positive role model for Townsend and other young men growing up in the Summerhill and Mechanicsville neighborhoods in the 1950s.
“I try not to get upset and try to treat people right. I get that from Charlie Surry,” Townsend said. “I’m thankful to God that my path crossed his pathway. It made me a better person.”
While Surry moved at a slower pace, he still got around just fine until he fell in August and broke his hip, an injury that left him bedridden and from which he never recovered.
Until his death, his mind was still sharp, and he loved regaling relatives with stories of his upbringing, his niece said. He was like the family encyclopedia, the go-to person for any questions about family history.
“We will miss his wisdom and his knowledge,” Noble said. “Everybody liked him because he was so wise and sharp for his age. He just focused on the positives of life and tending to his own business and being happy.”
Surry is survived by his daughter Marie Jowers of Decatur, one grandchild, six great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.
About the Author
