Instead of contributing a material thing to the County, like a bench on the walking trail, the Leadership Marshall class this year decided to focus on something intangible but precious: the County's history, as recorded in the minds of its older citizens. Each class member conducted an in-depth interview with their chosen person, and put it in writing for preservation in the Marshall County Historical Society's Quarterly.

Mike Wiles, one of the class members, knew from the moment the project was mentioned that he wanted to interview Mary Adeline Bellefant Davis, his next-door neighbor when he was growing up. Davis is believed to be the oldest living resident of Marshall County, having celebrated her 102nd birthday on July 12.

"It's the biggest crowd I've ever seen in here," commented Don Jeter, president of the Historical Society, as people old and young arrived at the society's summer meeting in the museum at the Hardison Office Annex. They came to hear Wiles' presentation on Davis' life, accompanied by slides made from some of her family photographs.

As Wiles pointed out, 19 presidents - from Theodore Roosevelt to Barack Obama - have governed during Mary Davis' lifetime. Her favorite presidents were Franklin D. Roosevelt and Bill Clinton and, according to Wiles, she's always ready to give an opinion on politics.

Mary Davis lived through, and remembers, the Great Depression and both World Wars, as well as the Korean conflict and the war in Vietnam. When she was born, in 1907, there was no radio or television, and automobiles were a rarity.

Mary Bellefant was the sixth of 12 children in a sharecropper's family. They moved often, and she remembers living in the Eagleville, Unionville, and Caney Springs areas. To help support the family, she quit school after fourth grade and went to work in the fields. At 13 years old she was working six hours a day at a Unionville slat mill, making pencil slats. Her father and brother Nick also worked there, hauling wood.

Mary worked in slat mills in Walter Hill, Shelbyville, and Lewisburg, and then at various pencil companies.

"I was the first female hand hired to work out in the plant for Linton Pencil Company," Mary is proud to say. Linton Pencil Company, founded by Sam Linton, merged several times over the years and was operating as Faber-Castell when Mary retired in 1977, at age 70.

She spent her whole working life supporting herself, and helping her parents and siblings, with just a brief 15 years of marriage. She and a Lewisburg boy, Grady Davis, tied the knot in 1943, after dating for four years.

Grady was there to comfort her when the Bellefant family got the news that Mary's baby brother, Charlie Mack Bellefant, 19, had been killed on Oct. 18, 1944, during the fighting on Peleliu Island in the South Pacific.

For nine years of their marriage, Grady was employed as a fireman and he and Mary lived at the Lewisburg Fire Hall on West Commerce Street where WAXO radio station is now. The fire hall was the first place Mary lived that had indoor plumbing.

Even though she lived at the fire hall for nine years, Mary never got to ride on a fire truck until Lewisburg fireman Larry Baxter arranged it for her 100th birthday.

When they left the fire hall, Grady and Mary bought the house on Armory Drive where she still lives today.

Grady died suddenly in January 1958 on their 15th wedding anniversary. He was 49 years old. Mary was devastated. He had said that he did not want her to remarry if anything happened to him and she did not, never even thinking of dating anyone. The couple was not blessed with any children, but Mary had plenty of other people's children to love and spoil, including the Wiles boys, Britt and Mike, and Marshall Cranford. Cranford remembers attending 1st through 4th grades at Hardison when it was a school. After that his family moved to Mount Pleasant for his father's job and he was very sad to leave "Miss Mary." Returning to Lewisburg about 15 years ago, Cranford was surprised and delighted to find that Mary was still alive, and renewed his connection with her.

Mary Davis is still active, though she can't see well enough to cook much any more. Her favorite hobby is working in her yard. She loves to grow geraniums, irises, and African violets. She is an Atlanta Braves fan and never misses a game on television. There have only been three cars in her life, a Plymouth, a Pontiac, and a 1962 Chevrolet Impala that she drove until she quit driving at age 92. She attends the Church of Christ, and told Wiles that she "feels going to church helps her live a better life."

Wiles concluded his presentation by saying, "Mary lives the best life that she knows how to live and at age 102 continues to live each day to the fullest."

Other interviews and reminiscences published in the Marshall County Historical Quarterly for summer 2009 include Sehon McConnell, Frankie Nelle Calahan Compton, and Elsie Denton Turner.