Ava Blake: ‘A remarkable and godly mother’

GREAT BRIDGE

In a place where each birthday is celebrated as a victory, residents at Allzwell Assisted Living Center on Great Bridge Boulevard had even more reason to rejoice when Ava Blake was recently honored during her 100th birthday.

With her wheelchair festooned in balloons, Mrs. Blake enjoyed several visitors, well-wishes from other residents and cake. A special treat was a large television displaying family pictures while playing gospel and country music.

Born Ava Hazel Cox on March 30, 1910, she was the youngest of 10 children by Armenta Mason Cox and Wilson David Cox Jr. of Fairfield, N.C. She outlived her last sibling, Mattie Belle Cuthrell, who died at age 99.

At age 18, Ava married the boy-next-door, 23-year-old Ellis Lee Blake, Sept. 1, 1928. They purchased a new home in 1951 on Kay Avenue in Portlock, where Ellis worked at the U.S. Gypsum plant. He died in 1990 after 62 years of marriage.

Mrs. Blake worked in the cafeteria at Hickory Elementary School for a few years, but dedicated most of her life to being a stay-at-home wife and mother. The couple had two children, Dorisann Blake Cameron, who lives in Chesapeake, and William Ellis Blake Sr., who lives in Hertford, N.C. Granddaughter Debbie Blake Anglim had an especially close relationship with her grandmother Ava.

“My mother raised her, and she is more like a sister to me than a niece,” said Cameron. Her mother has eight grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and nine great-great-grandchildren.

Cameron said her mother was gifted with a green thumb, especially rose bushes, which decorated her yard. They also grew an assortment of vegetables.

“We would all gather on the porch or in the yard and shell field peas and lima beans,” Cameron said. “During freezing corn days, my dad would bring ears of corn by the hundreds. We would then shuck, clean and freeze corn for hours and hours. Canning and freezing vegetables helped stretch their very limited budget.”

Anglim’s favorite times were working with her “Nana” on gardening days.

“My biggest regret is not learning how to make her famous apple dumplings. They were the best!”

Cameron remembers her mother cooking for her extended family after church on Sundays.

“The family kept growing and it would not be unusual to have 25-30 people show up,” she said. “It was her way of keeping the family together.”

Besides her family, Mrs. Blake was dedicated to her church. She was one of the 31 charter members of the Greenbrier Congregational Christian Church in 1981, which has grown into the New Life Ministries International.

“She was and is a remarkable and godly mother who not only raised her own children to honor and obey God, but numerous others as well,” Cameron said. “She opened her home to grandchildren, nieces and nephews, any child with no acceptable place to go. She sacrificed most of her life to make life better for others.”