Reed celebrates 99th birthday with senior center friends

Iris Reed turned 99 years old on Feb. 16. Reed celebrated her birthday with friends at Madison Senior Center. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – Iris Reed of Madison celebrated turning 99 years old with her friends at Madison Senior Center.

“Iris Reed is a precious little lady,” senior center director Vickie Parker said. “She has been coming here for 20 years. In fact, she is one of two seniors who still attend weekly who started coming when the center was founded.”

Reed likes to attend the Madison Senior Center and “enjoys the friendly staff, because they give her a lot of attention, which she enjoys,” granddaughter Victoria Owens said. When she is at the center, Reed spends time playing Bingo and talking with the other senior citizens.

Reed was born in Coleman, Fla. on Feb. 16, 1916 to RosaLee Reed Smith and Chester Smith. Reed later moved to Lake Wales, Fla., where she lived until moving to Madison with her granddaughter Victoria Owens and her husband Fred Owens in 1993.

As a younger woman, Reed worked for the railroad and Lee Drapers for many years while she lived in Florida.

Reed said she feels blessed to have two great-granddaughters, Toria Owens Goodwin and Valarie Owens, and three great-great-grandsons Jayden Goodwin, Josiah Goodwin and Jordan Owens.

“Reed is in good health overall for the age that God has blessed her to be,” Victoria Owens said. “My grandmother states that she would tell people to not to run the streets, to go to bed on time and to continue to serve God throughout their life, which she feels has contributed to her living to be 99.”

“The good Lord has kept me in good health,” Reed told her granddaughter.

Reed attends New Shiloh Church Ministries in Huntsville, “where Bishop Kenneth Tate was the overseer until God called him home. Currently, Bishop Anthony Huggins is the overseer,” Owens said.

Madison Senior Center’s address is 1282 Hughes Road. For more information, call 256-772-6258.