Poplar Bluff woman marks 105 years young

Faith is Kathryn Green’s guiding light. The Poplar Bluff woman celebrated her 105th birthday Wednesday, May 24.

The birthday honoree is recovering from a fractured hip. Her daughter-in-law Barbara Green of Poplar Bluff said a rod and pin were place in her hip at Poplar Bluff Regional Medical Center in February. She is in Cypress Point in Dexter for rehabilitation.

Barbara’s husband, Victor, is one of Kathryn’s two sons. Victor observed his 85th birthday Sunday, May 28. The other son, Kyle, lives in Charleston, West Virginia.

Kathryn and late husband, Harry, moved to Poplar Bluff 14 years ago from West Virginia.

West Virginia was their life, Barbara said. They were born and raised around Cowen.

“That’s where they served the Lord,” her daughter-in-law said. “I mean, they visited all those counties around and even went to Ohio a few times to preach. That was where their life was, their friends and what they consider their family.”

Kathryn and Harry each were the seventh of 11 children born into their respective families. Kathryn is last of her brothers and sisters living today.

After they married, Harry served in the military. When he returned home, he worked in the coal mines for 30 years. She was a homemaker and cared for the boys.

When Harry quit the coal mines, he was diagnosed with black lung disease and told he would only live a couple of years.

Barbara said, “The Lord intervened during that time, and he preached for close to 40 years in several counties in West Virginia, and she went along everywhere he went. He evangelized and she supported him in everything he did.”

While they were of the Methodist faith, he’d preach in any denomination where he was invited. Kathryn was a lay speaker. She taught rather than preached, her daughter-in-law said.

She’s always been an active woman, Barbara remembered. She worked from the time she got up in the mornings until time she’d go to bed at night. Usually, when she sat down, she had crocheting or embroidery in her hands to keep her busy.

“She loves to garden and she loves flowers,” Barbara Green said.

Harry lived about a year and a half after moving to Poplar Bluff. He had health problems and was in his early 90s when he died after having a massive stroke, Barbara said.

“He was the key person of the party. He had a sense of humor,” Barbara recalls. “He never met a stranger. Mama would hang around and wait, wait, wait on him because he had talked to everybody. She was the patient one.”

Victor recalled his mother made a lot of quilts. Some ended up with service guys in Iraq. She began the practice when she knew her sons were going into the service and she made quilts for them.

Victor said, “I made nine mission trips. On one mission trip to New Orleans, Barb and I both took quilts with us. I slept under the quilts. When we got ready to leave, we left them. There were people there who needed them. The lady I gave mine to had a wedding ring quilt torn up by the storm and lost. I gave her my wedding ring quilt to replace it.”