Elise Martin, a resident of Palo Alto, is experiencing her second pandemic.
When she was 3 years old in Hartsville, South Carolina, she fell ill, but survived the 1918 flu pandemic, which took her father and baby sister’s life.
Born in 1915, Martin turned 106 on Saturday, February 6, greeting friends, relatives and neighbors at a car celebration in front of the house he shares with his daughter and son-in-law, Loretta and Bill Green.
“Oh, my God – it was such a case,” she said later. “I don’t know how many cars were there, but I understand that there were more than 50, and there were people in their yards walking too.”
Martin has few clear memories of the 1918 pandemic, but he remembers seeing his father’s body, dressed in his suit, being taken in a horse-drawn cart.
“I never understood why other children could have a father and I couldn’t,” she said. “It was intriguing to me, because I was very young when he died. My mom had five kids and I really don’t know how she did it, but she was always happy and smiling, and it seemed that for some reason we didn’t do anything wrong. “
Martin’s mother, Fannie Jones, worked as a seamstress to support the family.
After graduating from cosmetology school, Martin opened his first beauty salon in Columbia, South Carolina, before he was 20. She owned several successful beauty salons and, in 1969, became the first African American to own a business on the main street in the city center. she opened a boutique there.
Martin also taught cosmetology for 27 years at Booker T. Washington High School in Columbia. She received a call last week from a former student who told her that he owns a barber shop, his own home and also the land next door.
“He said, ‘I remember at school when you told me that I shouldn’t shine a man’s shoes. If I’m going to shine them, shine them for myself. It really made me think that I needed to dedicate myself to my possessions. . ‘
“I thought it was so good because he remembered what I said to him and when I said it,” said Martin.
Martin has been active in many civic organizations in Columbia, including the zoning council and a citizens’ advisory committee. She spent decades working in research and, at 93, was working on a campaign when then-candidate Barack Obama showed up for a photo and a chat. Later, she also met then Vice President Joe Biden.
A widower, Martin moved to Palo Alto seven years ago to live with his daughter and son-in-law.
She enjoys watching Jeopardy, football and basketball.
“I love basketball. Steph Curry can just stay anywhere he wants – I would say he can just turn his back and throw the ball,” she said.
Asked how to live a long and healthy life, she said: “I love people. Sometimes I don’t feel good and people surround me and I forget that I’m not feeling well. If you have people, they are the best things for you. have around you. “
Martin also enjoys the company of her puppy, a Papillon that she named after her first beauty salon – Vanity Fair.