FeedsWoman celebrates 106th birthday
From science to popular culture, the world has changed tremendously since 1900—and Westland resident Nettie Lewis Hurley has seen many of those changes firsthand.
Lewis will celebrate her 106th birthday on Aug. 6 with family and friends although she jokingly said that she “doesn’t need any more birthdays.”
The second of 10 children born to Isaac Lewis and Hattie Alice (Cooper) Lewis, Hurley spent her childhood on her family farm in Leslie, ARK—a small rural community not too far from the Missouri border. Going to school meant classes through the eighth grade at the nearby one-room schoolhouse and if she or one of her siblings needed to head into town for some reason, they had to hitch a ride on one of the family workhorses.
Life became more complicated as the limited job prospects in the region caused many of her siblings to scatter in search of a better life. Hurley, who married Luke Hurley—another member of the small community—in 1926, soon took on the additional responsibilities caring for her sick father, and later, her mother. At the same time, she and her husband—like many of her siblings before her—found the job market in that area virtually nonexistent and were concerned about how difficult it was to find steady work.
With the death of her father in 1938, followed by the death of her mother in 1943, and the dispersal of much of her family to faraway states, Hurley said that there wasn’t much to keep the couple in Arkansas. So around 1953, they left the area where her family had been since the1880s and headed north.
“My husband had a job (in Arkansas), but it wasn’t much,” Nettie said. “We moved so he could find better work.”
There, they bought a little home in Wayne and made a new life for themselves. With the help of one of his brothers-in-law, Luke Hurley found the steady job he had been searching for at the Burroughs Corp. in Plymouth. Nettie Hurley sought employment as well and quickly accepted a position in the cafeteria of the same company.
It was a job she loved and, decades later, she still chokes up slightly as she recalls making the difficult decision to retire when the job when the long hours on her feet became too taxing.
“I got to the point where I had to quit due to poor health,” she said. “I hated to leave, but I had to.”
Together with her husband, Hurely remained in the same small house in Wayne for 45 years, including a span of nearly 25 years on her own after the death of her husband. She took care of the home until she was in her late 90s before moving into Presbyterian Villages of Michigan, a senior retirement community in Westland, in 1999. Additional challenges continued to develop, however, and two years ago she, she moved into the Westland Convalescent Center Nursing Home.
Though the couple had no children of their own, there was never any lack of children in their company, as Hurley and her husband took on the role of favorite aunt and uncle to their numerous nieces and nephews in the close-knit family.
The couple shared a love for traveling and enjoyed going on road trips together, and it is a pleasure she still enjoys. She is happy to talk about her travels—both those experienced with her husband, and later, those she enjoyed as a member of area senior groups, including the Golden Hour Retirement Club. Someone else has always been behind the wheel, though, because Hurely has never driven a car.
Although her health forced her to give up some activities, such as shooting pool, Hurley stays cheerful.
“I’d like to do a lot of things, but I try to keep upbeat” she said.
Today, Hurley may have slowed down slightly, but she stays busy. She’s been actively involved with various churches throughout the years, and until recently, participated in Bible study groups.
