Gladys Frazier moved to Falmouth at 10 and lived there until she was 102.
Today, at 106, she lives in the neighboring city of Butler, where she will celebrate her 107th birthday in just under a month.
So what’s the secret to living to see 107?
“Somebody asked me one day, ‘How come I lived so long?'” Frazier said. “My daughter said, ‘She ate a lot of tomatoes.'”
Frazier was born on Oct. 1, 1915, in Nicholas County, Kentucky. When she was 10, her family moved to Falmouth, the city she grew to call home for the next 97 years.
Her father worked as a carpenter, and Frazier said he built many of the homes in Falmouth.
“We didn’t have a whole lot, you know,” Frazier said. “Growing up, I didn’t know what a soft drink or anything like that was.”
One of Frazier’s favorite memories is playing basketball in high school. Life growing up in Falmouth was isolating, she said, but playing on the basketball team meant traveling to different cities in the state for games.
“Way back then, when I didn’t do anything, I played basketball, and I got to go different places,” Frazier said.
She graduated from high school in 1934.
Fresh out of school, Frazier got her first job as a beautician in Falmouth. She would do nails and hair, specializing in popular styles from the time, like finger waves and pin curls.
Frazier met her husband, George, shortly after in the late 1930s. Though she could not recall her exact wedding date, she said she met her husband at a restaurant in Falmouth, where everyone would go to hang out.
After they were married, Frazier and her husband drove to California. In the 1930s, people from all over the country were flocking there to find work.
Frazier said they spent a few brief months there, but they ultimately found themselves back in Falmouth.
“We went to California,” Frazier said. “He wanted to go out there to live, but after he got out there, he decided to come back to Falmouth.”
In 1942, Frazier had her first daughter, Kathy. She decided to quit her job as a beautician and stay at home.
Fourteen years later, in 1956, Frazier had her second child, Janet. Frazier said her favorite time of her life was when she was with “her girls.”
She added that her daughters were special to her. They helped her so that she could stay in her home in Falmouth until she was 102.
Her grandson Rich Wyatt said Frazier’s daughters ensured that the last resort was moving Frazier into a nursing home.
Frazier eventually started working again in the late 70s at a local general store in downtown Falmouth, selling an assortment of things from candy to school supplies. Rich Wyatt recalls her giving him candy at the store when he would visit during her shifts. He said she would even give him a discount.
“When I was in middle school, I could walk from the middle school to where my mom worked. Drop off my stuff, and I would walk down to her place and see her when she was working,” Rich Wyatt said. “She would often give me candy from the candy bin, and she would always give me a discount, which I thought was cool. I’d sit behind the counter while she worked and eat my candy or drink my Coke.”
Living to be 107 means having to watch some of the people closest to her pass away. Her husband died in the late 80s, and both of her daughters are now gone as well.
Frazier said her parents didn’t live to be that old, but her “baby brother” lived into his 90s.
Frazier’s two grandsons and their wives visit and help take care of her; she also has one great-grandchild, and six step-grandchildren.
“I’m very lucky to have two grandsons. I’ve lost both of my daughters,” Frazier said. “My grandsons and their wives. I’d be lost without them.”
Rich Wyatt recalled some of the things he has learned from his grandmother throughout his life.
“I’d say you don’t have to live a fancy, rich life to be happy,” Rich Wyatt said, getting choked up.
His wife, Deborah Wyatt, said “she’s always been very, very sweet. Never says a bad word about anybody.”
Rich Wyatt agreed.
“I learned how good cooking is when you make a lot of stuff from scratch, too,” Rich Wyatt said. “She didn’t cut any corners on anything. She would make her fried chicken in a skillet with oil. Make popcorn, homemade pies with homemade crust.”
Frazier said her favorite thing to make was blackberry jam cake. Something she taught her daughter Kathy, Rich Wyatt’s mom, how to make.
Wyatt said one of his favorite memories with his grandma, along with visiting her at the general store, was going to her house to trick-or-treat at Halloween.
“They would say, ‘You go trick-or-treat and come back, and we’ll have a special treat for you,'” Rich Wyatt said. “I thought it was cool that I could go by myself throughout the neighborhoods and come back, and she would give me like an extra big set of candy bars.”
These days, Frazier spends a lot of her time coloring in adult coloring books.
Deborah Wyatt said her brother-in-law, David, makes calendars every year with some of Frazier’s colorings, and they hand them out at her birthday party.
Frazier also plays Bingo when the nursing home gets a game together, and she said she likes to play the card game Cardo.
Her love for the game of basketball is something she has carried over into her adult life. Even at 106, she still tries to catch every game.
“She pretty much doesn’t miss a UK basketball game unless they’re on late,” Rich Wyatt said. “She’s been doing that for as long as I can remember.”
Deborah Wyatt added that Frazier’s dining room, where she used to stay before moving to the nursing home, was decked out in UK memorabilia.
Frazier will celebrate her 107th birthday on Oct. 1, surrounded by her family in Butler. One of Frazier’s secrets to growing old is “keep busy, so you stay out of trouble.”
It’s advice her grandson said he has heard her give to others.
When asked if she was excited about her birthday, Frazier said with a grin, “yeah, you get presents.”
