On the Westside of Indianapolis at Northwest Manor Health Care, Brie Coleman displays a cell phone photo to her grandmother in remembrance of her younger “glory” days. Sporting a berry purple jumpsuit, several mauve and ivory colored necklaces on her neck and matching earrings, 104-year-old Sarah Coleman glances at the phone and asks, “Who is that,” before releasing a soft roar of laughter.
“That’s you,” replied the entire room in unison full of family who represented three generations including Sarah’s daughter, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Sarah recently celebrated her 104th birthday in early June. According to new Census Bureau data, a growing number of Americans are living to age 100. Nationwide, the centenarian population has grown 65.8 percent over the past three decades.
When asked what Sarah wanted for her birthday, she asked for a nice birthday outfit.
“She is still a fashion diva. She still loves to dress even with shoes, purses and accessories,” said her daughter LaTrece Coleman-Stone.
Born in 1911 in Georgia with one sister and three brothers, Sarah and her family were getting accustomed to new life in a three-bedroom home in Atlanta.
“We were from the country and I wasn’t used to everyone calling us Negroes, but they did,” said Sarah, who recalls walking to and from school where white children on the bus would shout racial slurs from the windows. “Most people in the south knew about segregation but I didn’t.”
One of her brothers worked as a janitor at a school for white children only and Sarah decided to tag along one evening. This is when she captured a glimpse of the opportunities available to other students.
“They had everything you could think of, pianos, desks, typewriters…everything,” said Sarah.
Eventually Sarah and her siblings began life at a new school where they were supplied with desks, different from their previous schoolhouse where they sat on benches. The school she attended was one of the very few in the area to accept Black children.
She recalls one teacher who held a lighter complexion to favor those children who shared a similar skin tone.
“She really liked the light ones,” commented Sarah. “But overall she treated us pretty well. I began to improve so much the teacher sent me and another boy to the principal’s office. I thought we were going to get a whipping but really, I got a promotion (to the next grade level) and next thing I knew, they sent me to high school.”
She said her mother was overjoyed that she went to high school.
“My mother and father were county folks and they didn’t know anything about school,” she said.
In high school is where Sarah learned to type and a friend of hers encouraged her to take the civil service exam, testing required for specific groups including foreign service officers, customs, some secretarial and clerical, air traffic control, law enforcement, postal service, and for certain entry level jobs. She said this was enough education to help her “get along.”
In the 1940s Sarah traveled to Indianapolis and landed a job at the Indiana Department of Revenue as a typist and later retired in her 70s.
Coleman-Stone, her youngest child said it’s amazing to be able to still connect with her mother at 104 years old.
“As I’ve gotten older and have had kids and grandkids, it’s amazing that she appears to not be here, but I’m hearing stories lately that I’ve never heard,” noted Coleman-Stone.
Her daughter said often when family members hear new stories; they try to connect the dots during family reunions. Many of the family’s cousins now cherish those stories for future generations.
When it came to handling race issues with her children and neighboring families, Sarah always remained calm, while Coleman-Stone describes herself as the “hardheaded child.”
“She was always calm when people were out of line, but I would always look at her and think ‘OK that’s good and fine, but you need to go and handle that,’” laughed Coleman-Stone.
“For the most part she has a sharp mind and stays up on events, especially when President Barack Obama was elected. When he won the election, you would have thought he was one of her children. She was so proud of him. For her to go just a little removed from slavery to seeing a Black man become president meant the world to her. She prays constantly for him like she does for any of us.”
When asked what type of diet Sarah consumed before her time at Northwest Manor, her granddaughter revealed there were no secrets to seeing more than a century of life.
“She cooked every day and has always been thin but she eats everything. Up until about 1995 she was cooking at home and her breakfast was sausage, bacon, grits, just a big country breakfast every day,” mentioned Brie who has learned many recipes from her grandmother.
Coleman-Stone said although her mother has reached a milestone many never see, she continues to enjoy the simpler things in life such as reading the paper and enjoying company from her family.
