Vivian Young: Going Strong @ 99 Years Old

Vivian Young

99 Years Old And Going Strong (2015)
Wilmington, DE

I am in a writing class and sit next to  an older woman.  We are taking a course in memoir writing.  We all struggle a little bit with what to write .  After all, we are ordinary people.  We aren't Oprah or Bruce Springsteen or anyone else who has had a glamorous life.  What stories do we have to tell? The teacher tells us to write "snippets, just snippets.  Nothing grand. Think about the details of an event and record them."

Vivian, my classmate, looks to be about 80 and her ability to stay engaged in all of our conversations and her interest in learning new, current things captures my admiration. So I seek her out to talk with her every chance I get.

She introduces me to her husband.  He is 92 and I laugh and suggest that she has a thing for older men.

"No, I like younger men," she laughs back and then tells me that she is 97.  I am flabbergasted.

She then proceeds to tell me that she has not completed her assignment for the week.

"Why?" I ask.

"Oh, I have nothing to write about", she tells me sadly.

Meanwhile, Vivian has a Master's degree in Social Work and was a working mother in the 50s and 60s while most mothers stayed home. . She is African American.  She lived in the South during the Civil Rights demonstrations.  In the 80's and the 90's, she lived in Switzerland with her husband while he worked for the UN.  They traveled all over the world for this assignment. All of her children are college educated and were typically the only black students in their schools.  She has seen poverty, diversity, adversity and splendor in her walk of life.

I turn to Vivian and tell her in a demanding tone, "Vivian, you're an educated Black woman who lived in the South in the 60s and then moved to all white Switzerland in the 80's and then traveled the world.  If you have nothing to write about, then none of us have anything to write about.  Now start writing and not stop until your story is complete."

She laughed and had a five page "snippet" ready for the next class.


UPDATE:
Vivian Lenora Bridgeforth Young

AGE: 100 • Wilmington

Vivian Lenora Bridgeforth Young, beloved wife of 73 years to Leonard "Joe" Young, Sr., gently and peacefully went to her eternal place of rest on Saturday, January 30, 2016. A brilliantly spirited, generous and feisty lady until the end when she lost a heroic battle to pancreatic cancer.