Whoever conjured up the phrase “age is just a amount” has certainly met , Jean Conner Buford.
The World War II former and , Weatherford , citizen, then 101 years of age, was the particular guest of the , Weatherford Noon Lions Club , Wednesday, sharing her story and playful wit during a question- and- answer session with near friend and , Parker County Committee on Aging Director , of Operations , Jennifer Bledsoe.
” For those who do n’t know, Jean still drives every day”, Bledsoe said. ( Up until very recently, she pumped her own gas as well. )
Buford was raised in a military household, succeeding her father, who served in World War I.
” And I did n’t have a brother, so I decided that was the thing I should do”, she said. ” After I graduated college, I joined the , Navy , in 1944″.
She was a member of the Navy WAVES ( Women Accepted for , Volunteer Emergency Services ).
Buford attended boot camp in the , Bronx , at , Hunter College, and stayed in the , New York , place for mail clerk class in , Manhattan. That, she was assigned to the Victory- email section at the ships article business.
” The V- email area, this was to make it easier to find email overseas”, she said. ” You had a fixed that folded up and made the box, to. Then they could picture it and give a clip of film abroad, airmail- like.
Our task was to check whether the instructions had been written in pencil or ink before opening that tiny envelope. If it was written in pencil, or if something included a picture or a clipping, it could n’t be taken. But we simply had to deliver the papers and slide it back up.
Buford even served in , New Orleans , at the Armed Guard Naval Repair center.
” My enterprise there was listing services,” she said”. I had these records of each man who had entered the center, along with his name and address. and everybody’s tackle is changing continually.”
After the battle, Buford and other female service members were made to become “regulars” so that they may receive the same military gains as people.
” And I went back to college for one quarter and worked on my mentor, but I quit that,” she said.
Buford married , Forest Bradley Buford, whom she’d known since the second degree in their home of , Haskell.
” We just had 11 results in those times, and it was during the Despair so nobody had any money to do much marrying,” she said.
Forest joined the military after college, serving in the , U. S. Army Air Corps , 8th , Air Force , 306th , Bomb Group , during WWII and was discharged in 1946.
” I did n’t see him for seven years, did n’t think about him,” she said”. When he wrote me a letter, he returned to his home to assist his relatives. I thought,’ What is he writing me a letter for, I did n’t ask you to.’ “
He called her the following morning to ask her for a day after she had already been called because of a household issue.
” I did n’t care,” Buford said. But she did understand him as the” smartest, nicest person in our course.”
Before his demise in 2008, the two met and wed, spending 59 committed years together.
” How did he propose to you? ” Bledsoe asked.
” I do n’t remember … I probably asked him,” Buford replied.
The two had one son, who died at 15 from brain cancer, and a girl, who married and life in , Houston , as a retired architect.
” And that’s my home. I’ve outlived nobody,” Buford said.
While she still lives and drives single, Buford stays active with lace, word search puzzles, child color, period at the Senior Center and visiting with people in nursing homes. She’s also been known to do the rumba when” In the Mood “hits, play a few music on the music and speak, a smile to her time as part of the , Singing Platoon , in the , Navy , and her college modest in music education.
It’s one of those places you’ll have to catch her, as she does n’t own a cell phone or computer.
” I still write letters,” she said”. And do you know postage is going up 70 cents?!”
When asked about her secrets to staying healthy, Buford dismissed eating well or exercising.
” I do n’t have any idea, just the good Lord took care of me,” she said.
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( c ) 2024 Weatherford Democrat
Distributed by , Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
