(KLFY) — In Crowley, there’s a 96-year-old who values the lessons of life. At 11-years-old, her mother passed away. It’s a moment that changed her.
“They think I’m supposed to just go along with everything they do or say. I’m sitting here sweating and wondering what’s going on with the lady coming to talk. What lady what is she talking about?” Lula stated.
Lula Sanderford has put in more than one’s fair share of a long day’s work.
These days her hobby she says, is to relax and care for herself.
“This is what I do right here. I don’t have anyone doing anything for me. I do my own thing,” Lula said.
Her home sweet home is in Crowley, but that’s not where her life started.
Lula was born in Silverwood.
“All of that was Mermantau. When I came here in the 1930s my mother died. I came to Crowley in the 30’s which is Acadia Parish,” she explained.
Lula says it was her sister who finished rising her, as well as her brothers and sisters.
Her formal education came to a stop at 10th grade.
“At that time you graduate at 11th grade. I didn’t graduate. I stopped at 10-years-old because I got married. World War II was on then,” Lula noted.
She says her husband served four years and they had one daughter, who helped expand the family.
“She had five boys and one girl.”
Up to her 90 plus years, Lula has worked a number of jobs.
She worked nearly two decades for a high school in Crowley.
“I was the only black there for about 18 years. I was the main dish cook.”
She worked at a Headstart Program, as a foster grandparent.
After ten years, they offered her another job.
“I was too old then. I wasn’t for cleaning up and mopping. I stopped and stayed home.”
It’s safe to say, that over the years Lula has generated enough memories to last the rest of her lifetime.
“When you try to tell these young people they say that happened in your time. That’s how they get into trouble they don’t listen.”
Lula wants to remind young people to appreciate what they have, and more importantly who they have.
“11 years old is very young to lose your mother. Honey take it from me when you lose momma you done lost everything.”
“God has truly been good to me. I don’t bat my eyes unless I’m thanking him,” she explained.