Houma woman celebrates 107th birthday

Pauline Frazier of Houma, La., celebrated her 107th birthday on Tuesday.

“This is such a great achievement,” said Frazier’s daughter, Kathy Marion, who traveled to Houma from Florida to help her mom celebrate her big day. “So far she’s gotten over 240 birthday cards. She is an amazing woman.”

Frazier, originally from West Virginia, was born Sept. 1, 1913. Woodrow Wilson was president, World War I would break out the following year, and 15 years later Huey Long took over as Louisiana's governor.

As grew up, she helped her mother clean a one-room schoolhouse and studied to be a missionary. However, those studies were put on hold when she met and married Hugh Hebb on May 16, 1936. Today, many people know her as “Granny.”

She had 12 children, seven of whom were born in West Virginia. Frazier has called several other places home, including, Michigan, Ohio, South Carolina and Texas. However, she has lived in Houma for the past 40 years. Her husband died in 1966.

“She raised 12 children and always had a house full of grandchildren and neighbors' kids,” Marion said. “To make ends meet, she would babysit. One never knew how many children would be at her home. She always had an open lap. She’s proud of her six sons and two sons-in-law who served in the military.”

Two of her sons served in the Vietnam War. Nine of her children were born at home and her family is spread out from coast to coast.

Frazier saw a lot changes over the decades. She saw her first airplane flying overhead while she played in her yard when she was 4 years old. Manned flight had started just 14 years earlier.

“The first time she saw an airplane it scared her,” Marion said. “She didn’t know what it was. Her stories are unimaginable to us. My older sister was just a little over a pound when she was born. They kept her in a man’s boot box on top of a coal-burning stove. She used a man’s handkerchief as a diaper.”

It’s not clear what Frazier’s secret is to a long life, but Marion suspects it could be a combination of several factors.

“I really don’t know,” she said. “I ask her that all the time. She never drank. She never smoked. She walked everywhere because she never had a driver’s license. One of her sisters was over 100 and another was 99, so her family has good genes. But I think her sense of humor is just phenomenal. She’s always been a kidder and a jokester. At 107 she is still in good health and great spirits.”

At 92, Frazier was the oldest person to ride in a Houma Mardi Gras float, Marion said. She also helped deliver newspapers at the age of 93, becoming a fixture on local paper routes.

She is one of the few people alive today who has experienced two global pandemics. Frazier shared stories of the flu pandemic of 1918, Marion said.

“She said her father was downstairs with the boys who were sick downstairs,” Marion said. “The girls were upstairs. Back then they didn’t have the penicillin we have now. There was one person who took care of everybody. It’s amazing to hear these stories from her.”

Marion said her mom loves to travel, make quilts, put together jigsaw puzzles and walk.

“I didn’t do a whole lot,” Frazier said when asked how it felt to turn 107. “I try to make people happy.”

Marion said her mom has gone above and beyond that.

“She’s just open, fun and charismatic,” Marion said. “She’s been a great mom. That’s what her life is all about.”

Staff Writer Dan Copp can be reached at 448-7639 or at dan.copp@houmatoday.com. Follow him on Twitter @DanVCopp.