Ann Gasses Celebrates 90 Years

Ann Gasses has seen a lot in her 90 years, including raising a family, running a business, and having an active social life, but she has never seen anything like this COVID-19 pandemic. But we didn’t talk much about that last week; we concentrated on how Mrs. Gasses got to where she is now…living out retirement on her own here in Monticello.

Mrs. Gasses’ daughter, Audrey, visited me last month and let me know that her mother’s 90th birthday was coming up, and they had a celebration planned. Well, that celebration is on hold, except for cards mailed and presents delivered. There’ll be no get-together…not at this time. Mrs. Gasses birthday was Tuesday, April 14.

We took the opportunity to talk to Mrs. Gasses about her longevity. We talked by telephone, naturally, so we didn’t have to worry about social distancing. Mrs. Gasses was at her home in Monticello, Audrey was at her home in Tennessee, and I was at The News office.

Mrs. Gasses was one of 11 children, two brothers and seven sisters have died, but her little sister, Norma, is still alive and living in Hampton where Mrs. Gasses story began. Back then, high school just went 11 grades, she explained, and she almost finished. While in school she was a good basketball and softball player.

That last year, Joe (her future husband) would drive to wherever they were playing to watch her, after Mrs. Gasses met him when he had just come out of the service. Her father was normally quite strict, only allowing her to double date. But Joe’s brother was married to Ann’s sister, and Joe was a lot like his brother. No one objected when the two of them started dating…without another couple along. She said when they decided to marry, everyone was in favor of it.

Joe, 10 years Ann’s senior taught Ann a lot, she said. They had three children, Joann and Joseph were born while they still lived in McDonough, and Audrey was born in Monticello. Ann just kept saying, she has “no regrets, I’ve been happy all my life with all I had.”

Soon after she and Joe married, he was interested in running a retail store, but could not find space in McDonough. One day, he met J.H. Kelly, who told Joe about a storefront in Monticello that had just closed. He said it’s a big store, Fred Benton can rent it to you.

Joe went and met Fred, a meeting that took place in the pecan orchard on Hwy. 11, and agreed to rent the store right there in the pecan orchard. They never had a lease, and Joe’s Department Store was in that location for about 50 years. Joe and Ann continued to live in McDonough as they could not find a place to live in Monticello.

After a year of traveling back and forth, Earnest Key’s house on College Street became available and they rented it for a time, before moving to the house next to what is now BP. Later they bought a house on Conner Street where they lived for several years. Her son and his wife, Joe and Lynda Gasses now live there.

Whenever other stores came up for sale in Monticello, Joe would buy then, but he never moved Joe’s Department Store from its rented home. Mrs. Gasses said both banks were happy to lend money to Joe because they knew he was good for it. And he did business with both banks regularly.

The store business was very interesting, and Mrs. Gasses said early on they stayed open late on the weekends, so people could come in after they left the movie theater. And, they hired extra help on Saturday because everyone would come to town that day.

One employee was Lucy McMichael who had worked for Mr. Benton. Mrs. Gasses said they hired her and she was there every day and never late. An honest, Christian woman, she was the most perfect clerk you could have, said Mrs. Gasses. After being open late on Saturday, they would often go home and have friends over and socialize till the wee hours of the morning. Then they would get up Sunday morning to go to Jackson to attend Catholic mass. She said oftentimes they had to go by the store on the way to church because someone would need something.

Mrs. Gasses said many townspeople referred to her as “Miss Joe,” especially those needy people he helped out when they were down on their luck. People remembered “Mr. Joe” doing nice things for their family.

She said they kept up with the fashions based on what the wholesale houses offered. She said they would go to Atlanta every Wednesday to the big wholesale houses and spend the whole day buying. She said they would have the car loaded from the ceiling to trunk. She said they would pull into Monticello about 7 p.m, and friends would be waiting to help unload the car. She said they had the store 12-15 years before they ever went on a vacation.

Mrs. Gasses says they used to have New Year’s Eve parties each year, and they were a whole lot of fun. Everybody had a good time. She said they would get a reel-to-reel tape and Glover Jordan would serve as emcee. She named a lot of the people they used to socialize with. She said after closing the store it was nothing to grill out and party. She said Joe would bring the Kiwanis Club home after she had gone to bed, and she’d get up and cook breakfast for them late at night.

She said cotton and peaches, along with farming and the bobbin mill was most of the industry. Of course, with growing peaches came peach packing which employed quite a few people at times.

Joe and Ann were married 27 years before he died of an aneurysm at 53. She was only 43. She said she dated a couple of times, but it wasn’t for her. She said they all wanted to get married. She added she usually found them a wife, it just wasn’t her. She never was interested in any other man. She said she had a good life, a good husband, good children.

I asked Mrs. Gasses about her growing up years. She said they lived in the country, her parents and their 11 children with no electricity. She said her mother would keep one or two of them out of school some days to help with laundry which they did on a scrub board. She said they used Octagon soap and some kind of pink soap.

It was the same way for baths. They would draw water and put it on the porch for the sun to warm it. She said they didn’t realize it was that hard a life. She said the biggest change she has probably seen is the move to electricity. She said they had a wood stove, then a gas stove. Even though they lived on a farm, her father was not a farmer. He worked for oil companies, and he was a great carpenter.

Currently, the technology is too much for her. She doesn’t understand the internet, especially google, or cell phones. The cash register they had in the department store had a hand crank to turn. A far cry from today’s technology.

After running the store for a few years on her own, with some bookkeeping help from her sister, Mrs. Gasses decided to retire. Her son, Joe, took over the store, and she continued for a time to be a landlord for the other buildings her husband had bought along the way, which included the store known as Monticello Trading Post which was run by Mr. and Mrs. Quitman Luke, the old Monticello Drugs store and the store that currently handles fingerprinting and background checks. She no longer owns any of them.

Although her family didn’t vacation a lot when they had the store, Mrs. Gasses made up for it after retirement traveling much with friends. She and Betty Maxwell took a two-and-a-half week trip to Europe. Her niece and she also traveled. She said she’s been to Hawaii, Bermuda, France, Spain, and other places.

Mrs. Gasses was the first person to move into the apartments on Greene Street that Paul Kelly built several years ago. She has remained there.

Mrs. Gasses is now the oldest Westmoreland (her maiden name) and oldest Gasses living. She said she has lost lots of nieces and nephews. She stays in touch with her three children, five grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren. She enjoys watching golf and football on television.

It wasn’t an easy road. She has fully recovered from a stroke, and also from an internal bleed. She said “God doesn’t want me yet.” Her mother lived to be 99, just two months short of her 100th birthday. She had a sister that lived to 95 or 96 and a brother that was 98-99. Longevity runs in the family.

Mrs. Gasses has always taken care of herself, exercising regularly when she was younger, and eating healthy. Now, she says she eats like a pig, but she’s not gaining at this stage in her life.

She appreciates all the gifts she has already received, and she especially appreciates all the caregivers, family and friends who helped her make it to 90. And, talk about a satisfied life…Mrs. Gasses says she has done everything she ever wanted to do, and she is sitting there now praising the Lord for the good life she has enjoyed.