Cornelia Whitten never ingested prescribed medications, battled any type of cancer or suffered through any number of dreaded health ailments that befall mankind.
Back in the day, she might sip a little red wine with dinner or toast with champagne on New Year's Eve. But that was every now and then, and hardly qualified her as a true social drinker. Smoking was never an issue. She took one-half of an aspirin every day.
"She was a phenomenon," said Doris Whitten Morgan Messer, an only child who lives in Conyers. "It's amazing. She literally just wore out, but she had a fantastic life."
On July 25, Cornelia Slater Whitten of Atlanta died of natural causes at The Yellow Brick House, an assisted living facility in Lithonia. She was 106. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Tuesday at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Atlanta. SouthCare Cremation Society and Memorial Centers of Stockbridge is in charge of arrangements.
Mrs. Messer, a painter known around the world as D. Morgan, attributes her commercial success to her mom. Before her daughter acquired a publisher and licensing director, Mrs. Whitten did it all. She'd wrap and ship packages, take telephone orders; and in the 1970s, attended sidewalk art shows.
"Today, I have work in every state in the union as well as Canada," her daughter said. "When I first started, she did everything."
Mrs. Whitten was accustomed to dealing with the public. In the 1920s and 1930s, she was the legal secretary for what was then the Henry Troutman family law firm of Atlanta. Later, in the 1940s, she served as secretary to the DeKalb County Chamber of Commerce. She also worked as a bookkeeper for Casual Corner, a women's clothing store.
She and John Lovic Whitten, her late husband of 48 years, resided in Decatur. He died in 1971, and she never remarried. Shortly after his demise, the widow was introduced to Frank Roberts, whose family owned Sunnyland Farms in Albany. A single father, he was in need of a caregiver to travel with him and his two children for weeks on end. Mrs. Whitten accepted the offer and, for several years, took in the world.
"They went first class," her daughter said. "When they sailed on the Queen Mary, she wrote a postcard saying that the towels were so thick she couldn't pick them up, and had to roll around on them on the floor to dry. She was the family caregiver for five or six years."
Mrs. Whitten had two sisters and three brothers, all of whom are deceased. She was the oldest living member of St. Luke's Episcopal Church, host of her service Tuesday.
"I think she was truly blessed," her daughter said. "I think the way she lived her life had a lot to do with her longevity."
Additional survivors include two grandchildren.
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