Laura Butterworth Baker passed away October 14, 1980

Articles have been edited by Suzanne Forte for brevity in some cases, and to avoid mention of living individuals.

Mrs. Laura Baker of Center Hill community near Loganville turned 80 on August 28 and said, "I don't feel a bit different than I did at 79."

"Those 79 years have seen a lot of changes", she continued.

"The first car I ever saw was in 1908.  I thought it was the strangest buggy I had ever seen.  My father had to tell me what it was.  The first time I ever rode in a car was in 1917 when some man picked a bunch of us children up on the way to school"

Mrs. Baker is originally from Hall County, Her husband, Otis, who died in 1956 was from Walton County. Two of their sons live nearby and one lives in East Point.  Another son, Hoyt, died in 1953.

She was living in South Georgia when she met her husband, and he brought her back to his native Walton county.

"That was a long time ago", she says.  "Center Hill back then was just like one big family.  My neighbors were Barry Stowe, Herschel Sammons and Sid Moon."

"I really didn't know much about Loganville then," she confided.

Dr. Floyd, Dr. Brooks and Dr. Gurley of Loganville delivered all my children at home, but we did all our trading at Rosebud"

"At Rosebud there was a nice country store and some of the nicest people ran it.  Mrs. Mabel Upshaw was in charge of the millinery department and even made some of the hate she sold.  You could buy everything from wagons and furniture to food and fertilizer.  A tall can of salmon was 10 cents or three for a quarter, and material was about 25 cents a yard.

Her parent raised ten children, but only fo9ur of them are still living.  Her sister, Janie is 88 and she has two younger sisters Lula and Julie.

A life long member of Sharon Baptist Church, she remembers, "Preacher Stephenson was the first one I remember.  He was Rosie Moon's daddy. 

"I joined the church at Sharon on Wednesday after the fourth Sunday  in June of 1916. 

Looking back on her life, she says, "We're all made mistakes but we can't correct them now.  The only thing important now is to be able to meet death."