Sue Boyd Drake -- who raised her sons in the Lake Hilda neighborhood of Miami Lakes and still lives in the same home after more than five decades -- celebrated her 100th birthday on Aug. 5.
Asked about her secret to longevity, Drake said, “I just took it as it came and did the best I could.”
That ability to adapt to life’s challenges may have helped Drake live on her family’s Alabama farm during the Great Depression, survive both a bout of malaria before she grew up and breast cancer when she was in her 70s, as well as a quarter century of widowhood.
Drake grew up in Montgomery County, Ala., the eldest of seven children.
After attending high school, she worked there as a secretary and in South Florida too, where she had moved with a sister in 1949.
She married Robert Drake, a food broker who sold goods to institutions, restaurants and grocery stores, relatives said.
The couple bought a home in the new town called Miami Lakes in 1966.
Their boys Ross and Ken played in the lake and in a nearby field where Miami Lakes K-8 Center would later be built.
“All the kids around town used to swim in the lakes,” Drake said. “You could be sitting on the edge and look down all the way to the bottom. It was clear as a bell.”
Main Street didn’t exist yet.
“There were just cows everywhere,” Drake said about The Graham Company’s dairy farm that was being developed into residential neighborhoods.
Drake became a fulltime homemaker. Her Den Leader Cub Scout uniform still hangs in her closet. The Drakes held big parties and invited the neighbors over every New Year’s Eve.
She recalled traveling with her husband to Lon- don during the week of Prince Charles and Lady Diana’s wedding; marveled at the jewel green grass of Ireland and vacationed in Hawaii, where they toured volcanoes and the tropical scenery.
“Hawaii, that is such a beautiful place,” Drake said. “We really enjoyed it. ... If you get a chance to go, don’t turn it down.”
Drake’s marriage lasted 44 years until her husband’s death in 1997. The couple’s son Ken Drake and his wife Robbie live in the Loch Lomond neighborhood in Miami Lakes.
They have three children who are all adults now: Identical twin sons Russell and Robert and daughter Candice.
Son Ross Drake lives in Miami.
The pandemic has affected Drake as it has many elders.
She got her COVID-19 vaccine, but socializing around town at her favorite restaurants – El Novillo and Cancun Grill – has been put on hold.
“Their strawberry margaritas are the best,” Drake said of the Cancun Grill.
The pandemic hasn’t kept her from enjoying the cocktail.
“They have the margaritas to go, too, which I like because I can have them at home,” she said.
Drake smoked cigarettes for 10 years before quitting and has a lifelong habit of taking vitamins.
She enjoys jigsaw puzzles and playing Solitaire on her iPad.
There are also bi-monthly poker games with her her weekday caretaker, Jackie Berger; daughter-in-law Robbie Drake and Robbie’s mom Lear Frix, 85, when some white wine may be consumed.
Fifteen years ago, Drake gave up her car keys and relies on a walker to get around.
She estimates her home is stocked with 1,000 books, and her favorite authors are Tom Clancy and Daniel Silva.
Though she gave away several hundred books to the V.A. hospital in Miami, she kept some of her favorite titles, “In case I want to read them again,” she said.
She called computers the biggest technological development in her lifetime. Her daughter-in-law taught her how to use emojis on her iPhone, “And I really like them,” she said.
She shared thoughts about notable events. --World War II: “I was 20 years old when it started [after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor]. I couldn’t believe it. We were fighting two wars [against the Axis powers, Japan and Germany] at the same time!”
--About Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution in 1958: “It was all over the television and they were praising him to the skies like he was the greatest thing. They didn’t know then that he was a Commie.”
--A favorite fashion trend: “Pants came in in the early ‘60s. Before that we wouldn’t even wear pants to shop in the grocery store. It just wasn’t done.”
--The assassination of President John F. Kennedy on Nov. 22, 1963: “It was very depressing. It was mid-afternoon ... and the newscaster came on and said that Kennedy had been shot and that he died.” --Snowfall in Miami on Jan. 19, 1977: “It snowed for just a minute, long enough so that it could collect on the ground.”
Drake will make another memory soon, when she celebrates her birthday with family and friends.
Asked if she feels her age, she said, “I don’t know what 100 is even supposed to feel like. I don’t feel any different psychologically now than I did ten years ago.
“I don’t think I really believe that I am that old,” she said. “But the calendar tells me differently.”