Sue Drake answers the door with a smile, clad in a green shirt (her favorite color) with a large button pinned near the collar, featuring a cow, that reads: “Holy Cow! It’s My 95th Birthday!”
Cows have long been an icon of Miami Lakes and Drake remembers a time where cows were so prevalent in the area that a neighbor had cows frequently come up into her yard, deterred only by a chicken-wire fence.
The jumbo-sized birthday card that sits on her dining room table also features a cow, and was lovingly signed by people of the town including The Miami Laker staff, Publix, her doctors, a local bank, and many more.
The card, arranged by Robbie Drake, Sue’s daughter-in-law, and one of her sons, Ken, was part of this year’s celebration, which they deemed her “birthday month” in August, but the moment that stole the show was the surprise appearance of a limo scheduled to pick up Drake for a ride to The Rusty Pelican.
Drake’s 95th celebration is second only to her 90th birthday bash, celebrated at the Grand Slam Ballroom in the Don Shula’s Hotel where friends and family flew in from other states to celebrate the petite, bespectacled woman.
While holding a (green) mug, Drake sorts through the latest shipment of books with Robbie. Drake is an avid reader and iPad user, and the times she manages to beat the intermediate computer in solitaire she says “it’s an occasion!”
Drake reminisces about her favorite memories throughout her storied life and mentions three that come to mind immediately – her 90th birthday surprise, the wedding between Robbie and Ken, and watching Ken graduate from law school with honors. She beamed with pride.
Drake first came to Florida from Montgomery, Alabama, to visit family. Young and untethered, when Drake first saw Miami Lakes, she said it was the most gorgeous thing she had ever seen and believed herself to be in paradise, so on a whim decided to stay and make South Florida, and shortly thereafter, Miami Lakes her home. Nearly half a century later, Drake continues to call Miami Lakes her home.