Turning a Century at the Turn of the Decade

A Marlow resident is turning 100 years old on Monday, and the community is invited to celebrate the milestone with her.

Nellie Davis, nee Thomas, also known as “Granny Bug,” was born on December 23, 1919 in Pontotoc county to Sally Jane and William Thomas. In her near-century, she has seen the world change in ways she never imagined: the prevalence of cars (she learned to drive at age 40), the advent of television (The Price is Right and the Lawrence Welk Show are her favorites), not to mention the Great Depression, wars, births, deaths, and reunions.

She describes her childhood in Pontotoc County as “average,” with the same responsibilities and activities as everyone else: school, chores, and homework. She walked two miles each way to school. “I got to stand in the corner one time,” she said. “Me and another girl were talking when we weren’t supposed to – you know, like whispering – and we had to stand in the corner.”

She got her nickname, Bug, as a child on her parents’ cotton farm. “There was some people who worked for them, picking cotton, and they had two boys but they didn’t ever name them. They let them name themselves. The oldest one named himself Doughboy and the youngest named himself Doodlebug. Well, the older kids got to teasing me about Doodlebug because they left him at the house for mama to watch while they were picking cotton, and we were just a couple of kids, we got out and played. We didn’t think nothing about it, but they got to calling me Doodlebug too, and then they shortened it to just Bug.”

And to generations after, she’s been known as Granny Bug, including to her three sons, nine grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren, and three great-great-grandchildren.

She married Joe Davis over 70 years ago on August 20, 1941. They were neighbors and had known each other from childhood. Unfortunately, Joe was called away to fight in Europe not long after they married and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. “He was gone three years and three months, three weeks, and three days,” Nellie said. “When he came home from the army,” said her granddaughter Rhonda Smith. “She didn’t know he was coming. She saw him and jumped the fence.”

Nellie’s relatives describe her as hard working – “She could mend fences as good as a man, shoot a gun as good as a man,” said Smith – and at the age of 95 was still living at home and defending it against unwanted animals. “People came and termited the house,” the story, told by her son Jim Davis, goes. “They left the house open and a skunk got in. I trapped that skunk but I wasn’t out there. She went outside carrying a .22 to the end of the house with her cane in one hand and the .22 in the other. She dragged that skunk out from under the house, shot it, and then called me to come get it.”

Another story of Nellie’s strength took place one winter when everyone else at the house had gone to work. “I happened to look out the window and some cattle had come up, but the water hole was frozen,” Nellie said. “I guess they bumped one calf onto the frozen water and they just finally drifted off with that little calf laying out there on that ice.

“I thought, they won’t be home from work until late this evening and that calf will be frozen to death by then. So I went in and put on some coveralls and went out there. He was out a little ways, but I crawled out there and got him by the tail. He was pretty heavy, but I’d pull him a little, and then I’d scoot back. Pull him a little and scoot back.

“Well, the tail broke. It had gotten so cold it broke off. And that’s how he was known as Bobtail.”

The calf survived, and Nellie told her family that when they sold the calf she wanted the money for it. “Anytime she bought anything, she’d tell everybody that was from Old Bob,”

Celebrations have been a part of Nellie’s life as well. Her daughter in law Janie Davis said that Nellie and her husband loved to dance. “People would come by and say, ‘Do you realize how good they can dance?’ Right up until he passed away they danced all the time.”

“I could jig-dance and waltz,” Nellie said. “And we just loved to do it.”

Nellie’s relatives remember her silver Christmas tree, and that she made all of the ornaments herself. She was even crowned Valentine Queen at West Wind Assisted Living right after having moved there.

Nellie’s family invites the community to celebrate with them on Sunday, December 22 from 2:30 – 4:30 at the Cumberland Presbyterian Church at 6th and Kiowa streets. The community is also invited to send birthday cards and well-wishes to Nellie Davis, care of West Wind Assisted Living, 111 N. 9th Street in Marlow.