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THE SEA COAST ECHO?THURSDAY, JANUARY: 4. 1990-1B J
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One hundred later still celebrating
BY JANET MCQUEEN Bettye Weston Otis perched in her wheelchair quite flustered at the amount of attention she was receiving; to her, it was just another birthday?no different from the 99 other ones she had celebrated.
Born in Logtown on December 29, 1989, the petite matriarch with neatly braided snowy hair was honored by family and friends in her Waveland home and named a ?distinguished citizen? by Mayor John Longo.
?How do I rate all of this? I don?t see what the fuss is all about,? she insisted. ?A lot of people live to be 100.?
A birthday greeting from President George Bush prompted her to inquire how he knew it was her birthday?and to instruct a great-grandson to ?thank him for the card.?
Mrs. Otis lamented that her husband, the late Hancock County Circuit Clerk Lamar Otis, was not alive to celebrate with her.
Her son, former Circuit Cler1.: Henry Otis of Bay St. Louis, and daughter, Mildred Fountain of McComb, were there to share the day along with four grandchildren and four greatgrandchildren.
Extremely alert, articulate and in good health other than
failing eyesight, Mrs. Otis easily relates tales of her youth. She has seen Hailey?s Comet twice (the first time was better), remembers the Wright Brothers? flight and the Hurricane of 1909, which heavily damaged Hancock County.
A particularly sad memory was having to vacate the Log-town family home in 1964, when the land became part of the Buffer Zone surrounding the National Space Technology Laboratories (now Stennis Space Center).
Five generations were reared in the sprawling raised home in the sawmill town, and countless happy memories were all that was left of the family?s residence which was sold for materials. According to Mrs. Otis? grandson, two homes were built from the 120-year-old heart pine.
Henry Otis well remembers the many fireplaces which burned four-foot logs, which he was responsible for cutting and hauling.
?At Christmas, we would search the woods for a huge holly tree. We would decorate it with tinsel and popcorn and place a doll at the top of the tree,? Mrs. Otis said.
Her grandfather owned one of the first cars in Hancock County, which was delivered on