By SANDRA PRIEST

Special to the Progress

The chocolates have long since been eaten and enjoyed, but the old fashioned box with its frayed edges and worn corners still holds something very special. Old report cards dated 1924-25 from Algoma school, Christmas cards bearing 1-cent postage stamps, a postcard from Marie’s Beauty Shop postmarked 1937—reminders of another era, another way of life. A time of such things as scraping the yard, gardening out of necessity, and washing clothes in a roller-type machine. When Mrs. Myrtis Reeder Barlow placed those keepsakes in the chocolates box almost a century ago, she had no idea how her life—and the world around her—would change in the years to come.

Today, Mrs. Myrtis has just celebrated her 100th birthday — a century filled with precious memories. Her sons Bill and Ellis, along with their families, are thankful for the legacy of love they have received from Mrs. Myrtis.

Bill, who lives in Tupelo with his wife Scarlett, says with a chuckle, “When you tell people your mother she is 100 years old, they say, ‘Well how old are YOU?’” Reminiscing of childhood days in Pontotoc with his mom, dad and brother, Bill says, “We always played sports and mother was always there for us. And she always told us, ‘Just act as nice as you look and everything will be fine.’”

For the last several years, Mrs. Myrtis has lived with her younger son, Ellis, and his wife Mary Jean, at their home in Pontotoc. “She got to having dizzy spells,” Ellis says, “so before the tornado in 2001 she moved in with us. It’s a good thing, too, because her home in Algoma was completely destroyed.”

This gracious, much loved and greatly admired lady was born to Ellis Alonzo Bost and Eudora Ellis Bost on August 15, 1910, in the Algoma Community. Myrtis Reeder Barlow is the eldest of three daughters born to the Bost Family. The other girls were Mable Bost Ray who resides in Walls, Mississippi, and Frances Bost Brown who is deceased.

She has always had a love for learning, teaching, and helping others. When she completed school at Algoma she enrolled at Blue Mountain College to help her prepare to be a teacher. She began that career in Algoma where she taught and coached basketball. She loves to tell that her team won the County Championship and also that she had the opportunity to teach her two younger sisters.

As a young adult she met and fell in love with Walter Leonard (Lynn) Reeder. They were married on December 25, 1937, in front of Reverend Willard Bryant’s house in the Cherry Creek Community.

While their boys were still young, Lynn and Myrtis purchased a home on Hwy. 9 North in Pontotoc.

Mr. Reeder passed away in 1964. Mrs. Reeder continued teaching for a few years after that. She also took care of her elderly father and was always available to help with the grandchildren that were coming into the picture.

In 1972, she retired from teaching after 42 years, and she also remarried. She and John Barlow were married and she moved into his home in the Algoma Community. She spent some happy years in that community, teaching Sunday School, Bible classes, and participating in other community activities. Mr. Barlow passed away in 1992.

A few years later Mrs. Barlow moved back into the family home that had been purchased by her son, Ellis Reeder and his wife Mary.

Myrtis Reeder Barlow has a large extended family which treasures the time and memories they have shared with her and look forward to many more.