PONCHATOULA- Today, one local woman is celebrating not only Thanksgiving, but her incredibly long life. Inez Hughes, from Ponchatoula, just celebrated her 102nd birthday this week. Twist reporter Adam Bowles gives us a look inside her life and her secret to longevity.
If you ask anyone who knows Inez Hughes, they will say the most impressive thing about her is her memory. “I remember my kindergarten teacher. She had gray hair and big roll on top of her head,” Inez recalls.
“Her recall of things that came before us you know has just been amazing,” Mike Sweeney says.
That’s quite remarkable for someone celebrating her 102nd birthday! Inez was born in Slidell on November 18th, 1916.
“The school was right there across the street,” Inez says. She could even recall details about North Oaks school where she attended kindergarten.
“They would make hamburgers that was only 10 cents.”
Imagine actually living through 3 major wars, the Great Depression, and segregation. Things we only we know about from history books.
“He got up there and started saying, I got a dream, I know Martin Luther King,” Inez recalls.
There is no doubt that Inez has experienced a lot in her lifetime with one exception, social media. That is why we introduced her to SnapChat. She really enjoyed it and you can see it in the video attached.
Her wit and upbeat spirit bely her 102 years. “Just keep going like you are, don’t fuss around and run around, just keep going,” Inez says. This is her advice for living a long healthy life.
Inez has had 15 great grand children and counting and was also the widow of a former New Orleans police officer G.G. Hughes.