Addie Lee Rideout
1930 - Addie Lee Rideout
Addie, her husband, P.T. Rideout, and their son, P.T., Junior, lived at 404 Oakwood Avenue from 1934 until 1994.
To listen to an excerpt of Betsy’s interview with Addie Lee Rideout and her son, P.T., Junior, press “play.”
“I was born December 4, 1911… I bought that house—404 Oakwood—in 1934. It cost I think about 35 hundred dollars.”
[Betsy Buford: “It was a simpler time then that your son was born in a neighborhood hospital and he went to a neighborhood school.”]
“Yes, it was special to live in a nice neighborhood and have a good job.”
[Betsy Buford: “Now Addie Lee, you were active in so many things, but one of the things I know that you were very active in for forty-five years was the Oakwood Garden Club and you helped get it started.”]
“Yes. I loved the club. I helped get it started and I did all the typing and helped get it distributed. Everyone had a contribution and we looked forward to it each month.” – Addie Lee Rideout
Full Transcript
The following is the transcript of the interview of Addie Lee Rideout. The interview was conducted for the Society for the Preservation of Historic Oakwood on February 25, 2011, at Spring Arbor in Raleigh, North Carolina, by Betsy Buford. Also present during the interview were P.T. Rideout, Jr., Katherine Moye, and Gwen O'Neal. The interview was transcribed by Cynthia Moore Callahan.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Addie Lee, I'm so glad to be here with you today, because we've been friends a long time. As we get started, I want you to tell folks how old you are.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I am a hundred years old. December 4, 1911, I was born.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: To be ninety-nine years old and to be sitting in a wheelchair with clear eyes, you look great. You're amazing. And your hundredth birthday will be here before we know it.
Addie Lee, I know you grew up on a farm. Tell me a little about how life was for you when you were a little girl. Where did you live? And just tell me a little bit about your childhood.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I was born in Pitt County, Greenville, North Carolina. And I was born to a very poor family, but I had a good mother and a good father and brothers and sisters. And I grew up to love the church and to love to go whenever I could. We had to walk to church, and it was called Hollywood. And we went to school in the same building that they had church in, and that was nice. So thank you for asking me. I appreciate it.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Addie Lee, I know that you had a remarkable family, because you did an amazing thing as a young woman. I know that you came to Raleigh. You left home, you left the farm, and you came to Raleigh to go to business school.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Tell me how you decided to leave the farm and go to business school and why you went to the one in Raleigh.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I went to business school to start with in a little town called Fairfield in Hyde County. And the school moved to Raleigh, North Carolina. So us girls, a lot of us, followed the school to Raleigh, North Carolina. And we went to the boarding house for women with Nancy and Linda Rideout. And then I worked in a few places and finally I got a job with a church, with Calvary Baptist.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: What church?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Calvary Baptist Church, and I worked as a secretary for twenty years. And then I retired and they moved me--I mean, I just stayed in Raleigh. And I had met--us who stayed in the boarding house met fellows that came down from the Sir Walter Hotel. And the one I got was P.T. Rideout. And I was so pleased that I met him. And we finally got married. And I went to school a little more, but then I worked. And I worked at the bus station a while.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: I remember you told me that. And here you were, still a young woman. I bet that was a little rough, wasn't it?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Huh?
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Wasn't the bus station crowded and noisy?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: No, it didn't seem to be. I got along okay. I worked there a while, and then I got another job with--an office job. And finally I got a job with--well, it was with the schools. Well, first, I worked some with the state, some, but my best job was with the church, and I worked twenty years.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Well, I've known you since 1977, and you are one tough lady. And you have stayed busy your whole life.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: I want to hear about the great love of your life, little P.T. Where was P.T. born? Tell us about his childhood.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: P.T. was born in December, December 12th, 19--what year?
MR. P.T. RIDEOUT, JR.: '41.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: '21.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: '41.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Anyway, I'm trying to think. I was married in Cameron Baptist Church. We were married. I worked at--
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And Addie Lee, what year were you and P.T., Sr., married?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: We were married October 20, 19--October 24th, I believe, in--
MR. P.T. RIDEOUT, JR.: 1934.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Your son P.T., Jr., says it's 1934.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Does that sound right?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: 1934, I was married. And then we lived in three places. At the time that we--I started working at the church and kept that job. And we got a chance to buy that place in Oakwood.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Well, now, I understand that when you bought your house, it was twenty-nine years old. But it's a beautiful house. Tell me the address on Oakwood Avenue and tell me what you liked about the house. Why did y'all buy that house?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I liked the house very much. And it was in 1934. I wish I had wrote it down.
MR. P.T. RIDEOUT, JR.: 1938 is when--
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: 1938. And we bought the house and we settled, and we lived there most of the time together.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: You lived your entire adult life together in that house.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: That's right.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And what is so beautiful about it is that it's a sweet house on a sweet lot. Tell me did y'all do anything to the house inside? Did you do any remodeling?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, we did some changes. P.T. knows what changes we did.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Well, we'll have P.T. tell us. Your son P.T.'s going to tell us what y'all did inside the house.
MR. P.T. RIDEOUT, JR.: They remodeled the bedrooms and living rooms and moved the kitchen from the back to the front where the dining room was. That was the main one.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Made it a more convenient way out. Addie Lee, you kept being very active, but in the midst of all your active life you and P.T. had a son, who is here with us today.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And when P.T. was born, did y'all change anything else in the house or did you keep the bedrooms the way they were?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah. We had the bedrooms on the side of the house that our bedroom was on, and the living room was across the hall. And we liked that house. We liked it.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Addie Lee, I think it's so amazing. In today's world people move so much, and that you all had this great marriage--
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: --and that you spent most of it in that house and you have this great home for P.T. It's the home he, of course, knows and loves.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And I understand that P.T., Sr., had something out back, his workshop that he did woodworking.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah. He could do woodwork.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: What kind of things did he do?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: He could do a lot of things. He could paint and sand things in the house. And he was--he was very good at doing things. And he could--he was good at whatever he did and how he changed things in the house somewhat. But I just can't tell you everything, because--
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Well, I think it's just amazing, because it's such a great house. Now, Addie Lee, you were active in so many things, but one of the things that you were so active in for forty-five years was the Oakwood Garden Club.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, our Oakwood Garden Club.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And I know that you were one of the people that helped get it started.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: So tell us a little about that.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I liked our garden club very much. And I was--I made--we wrote a letter. And I wrote a letter about the garden club about once a month, or something like that.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: You wrote--you kept things going for the newsletter. You wrote all the news up about it--
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, it was the newsletter.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: --to share with everybody in the neighborhood, because not everybody in the neighborhood, of course, had time to be in the garden club.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And you worked with Vallie Henderson?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah. I helped her get the garden club. I did the typing and get it ready for the--to be distributed.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: I think one reason that so many people in the whole neighborhood were involved in the garden club is because y'all did have that newsletter.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And of course, you know, at that time, not every woman knew how to type or to organize or could do a newsletter. I mean, you were the staff for the garden club, Addie Lee.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: They still do the garden club newsletter, and I enjoy getting it every--whenever they do it. Every month, I reckon.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: They do it every month. But people in the garden club tell me that no one will ever do the newsletter for as long as you did, Addie Lee.
What was the thing--besides doing the newsletter and getting people together, what did you like about the garden club? What did you enjoy?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I liked to get together. We had a very nice time together and we'd do things that would be--make better for the area of garden club. Every woman had a contribution to do. And we looked forward to the meetings each month.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Well, you know, Addie Lee, I've known you for a long time. And one thing I've noticed about you is that you can talk to anybody and get along with everybody. And I'm sure that one reason it was such a great success is that you were so friendly to people and kept welcoming them to join.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Well, god made me that way. I'm so glad that I like people and people like me. I was so pleased with all that.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: One of the things that's so amazing about you and your husband,
P.T.--and I guess it's because you both grew up on farms, but you both were so strong. I can remember that when I knew you, you didn't have a car. Y'all had already stopped driving. And that didn't stop you. You and your husband would walk to so many things.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, that's right. We would do--we didn't always have a car, so we--but after a while, we did have a car. He needed one and I needed one to get to my job.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Of course.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: And so it worked out that we got along.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Got along great, yes. The only reason when I knew you when you were older that you didn't have a car just for safety's sake.
Let's talk about P.T. a little. I know when you met him, he worked at the Sir Walter Hotel.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes, that's right.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: But where else did he work?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Fayetteville Street.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: It was on Fayetteville Street, right. And after he left the Sir Walter Hotel, where else did he work?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: He went to Baltimore for a little while. Then he worked at the--came back and worked at another hotel.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: The Carolina Hotel.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Huh?
MS. BETSY BUFORD: The Carolina Hotel?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes, that's right. He worked at another hotel. He was very good. He was a chef and he know how to prepare and serve food and have parties.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: I know that he was a great cook, because I ate things that he prepared.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: That's what everybody said. He was a good cook. And he could keep a job, because he would--they liked him. He also--when he retired, he went to work at Tabernacle for--
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Tabernacle Baptist Church?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, Tabernacle Baptist Church as a chef. He worked there for quite a while. And they liked him. And he was very--very good. But finally he did retire from that. So then he was without a job for a while after he retired. And after a while he got--he--
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Didn't he work for another church?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Huh?
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Did he work for another church?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, he worked for Tabernacle a while.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Didn't he work for First Baptist Church, as well?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Oh, yeah, that's where he spent many years. I'm sorry. I don't know how many years.
MR. P.T. RIDEOUT, JR.: Eighteen.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: P.T. told me that he spent eighteen years at First Baptist, and then they thought he was--it was time for him to retire. They were worried he was getting too old. And then he went to Tabernacle Baptist for fourteen more years.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: He did.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Four more years, excuse me.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: He did. That's right. I worked for two churches. And I was so glad that I could. I loved people. I loved to be with them and be able to do some good in this world.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: I know sometimes when he had big events at the church and you were through with your work for the day, you would go and help him, wouldn't you?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, that's right. I was helping with him. I wanted to do things that were good and helpful.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Addie Lee, when your son P.T. was born, what school did he go to? Tell me a little bit about P.T. and his childhood. Where did he go to school?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: He went up there on Person Street.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: At Murphy School?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Murphy School, Murphy School. He was there until he went to high school. He went to--
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Broughton, Broughton High School.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: What school did you go to, P.T.?
MR. P.T. RIDEOUT, JR.: Needham Broughton.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Broughton. He went to Broughton High School. He graduated from Broughton, and he went--he went to--
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Did he go to the Navy after high school?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Huh?
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Went to the Navy?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, he did.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And then for many years he was a contractor, I know.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes. He was building buildings a long time.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: He built a lot of houses, didn't he?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, he has a lot of houses built and business buildings. MS. BETSY BUFORD: I know you and P.T., Sr., were so proud of him. Addie Lee, for the record, tell us when your son was born and what hospital he was born in.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Huh?
MS. BETSY BUFORD: When was P.T. born and what hospital was he in?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: It's over there on Wake Forest Road.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Mary Elizabeth?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, Mary Elizabeth Hospital. He was born at that hospital. And it wasn't far from where I lived.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: It was a simpler time, wasn't it, that he went to a neighborhood school and he was born in the hospital in the neighborhood near home? That was really special, wasn't it?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes, that's right. It was special to be able to live in a nice neighborhood and to have a good job with the church.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Addie Lee, I know that P.T., Sr., lived a long life, and I know you were so sad when he died at eighty-nine. But what I admired so much about you is how you were heartbroken, but you really carried on without him. And you lived at home for a good while before you needed to even leave your house. You kept--you were healthy for a long time, weren't you?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: That's right. I lived for a long time. P.T. kept up with me.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Yeah, your son P.T. took great care of you.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: He's a good son.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: He's a great son, a good son. You are so right.
One of the things I admire about you, Addie Lee, was when you were in your nineties, you know, I would bring you food from time to time, and I got you to eat yogurt. I remember when you got--you said, "I don't eat yogurt." And I said, "But yogurt would be good for you." And you ate yogurt and were such a good sport about it. A lot of people in their nineties don't take on new foods. But that's just the way you were.
Tell folks about where you went for exercise class. Tell people how--
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, I did. I did go to exercise class a long time, and that was good.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: You exercised through your early nineties.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, that's right, my early nineties.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: You went to senior citizens' places on Wade Avenue, and I know you took a class--
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes, I did.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: --at St. Augustine's College.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes, that's right. I did go on Whitaker Mill Road to exercise in the senior care.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: I remember when you were ninety-one, one summer you told me you were the only one in your class who could kick your legs up high. And if that's not Addie Lee Rideout, I don't know.
For the record, tell us the address on Oakwood Avenue where your house--
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: 404 Oakwood, 404.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And what's so nice about that, it's just in that second block of Oakwood as you come off of Person Street. So it's right in the heart of neighborhood, which I think is so nice.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: One block off of Person.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: That's right. Addie Lee, can you remember what your house cost when you and P.T. bought it?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: It seems like about thirty-five hundred.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Thirty-five hundred dollars? Well, you know, it's got a few more zeroes on it today, but it's just amazing. Of course, thirty-five--
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I think that's right.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Thirty-five hundred dollars in the 1930s was still a lot of money, but it's amazing how houses are so much more expensive today, isn't it?
Addie Lee, when you and P.T. bought that house, was Oakwood Avenue paved or was it dirt? Was it a dirt road or paved?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: It was paved.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Wow, because it--
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: The streets were paved far as I know.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Wow. It's because, I think, Oakwood had been a major street for so long. Were there--I know there are great trees there now. Did you plant any of those trees?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes. Yeah, we bought it at City Market. Oh, we bought it and planted it. It was from another--it come on a truck.
MR. P.T. RIDEOUT, JR.: A Douglas fir.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: And we got it--we bought it and we set it out, and now it's a big--it's a big tree.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: That Douglas fir is probably one of the tallest Douglas firs in the neighborhood, Addie Lee. But it's exciting that you and P.T. planted it as a young tree.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: That's a beautiful tree.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: It is a beautiful tree. And you always had flowers on the side.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Tell us about some of your favorite flowers. What do you like?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I like them all.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: That's what makes you a good garden club member, Addie Lee, you like them all.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: You also know how to take care of them all.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I like roses and I like--
MS. BETSY BUFORD: You like hydrangea, I know. And I know that you like pansies.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: And gardenias, you know. I like them all. So many, I can't think of them all.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Well, that's what made you such a good garden club member, and you appreciate them all.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I love flowers. I love flowers no matter what kind they are.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And when I knew you, you also had fish. You had fish.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I had a fish pond, yeah, we kept on the side yard. We had little fishes.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Addie Lee, how did you keep your fish from the cats in the neighborhood getting your fish?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I didn't have any problem in that pool.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: I just think it's amazing. It defies logic, because it's a shallow pool. And you've told me that story before. And I think it's just because it was your house and the cats knew they had to behave, because you had fish a long time.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, that's right. I don't guess they have it now.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: What did you feed your fish?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Huh?
MS. BETSY BUFORD: What did you feed your fish? What did you put in there?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I don't know what kind.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: You had goldfish. But do you remember what you fed them?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: No.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: You told me one time that before you could buy fish food--before they had fish food, I think, in stores, that you fed them oatmeal. Does that sound right?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, that's right. I gave them oatmeal.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: I think you could start a whole new patent, Addie Lee, you know. Did P.T.--
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: You know more than I do.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: No, no, the only reason I know it is because you've told me. And it's hard to remember everything when somebody's sticking a microphone in your face.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Did P.T., Sr., like fish like you did? Or was that your thing?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, he liked it. P.T., Jr., liked fish. He liked to go fishing.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Did he and his dad go fishing?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, sometime.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And then would they bring something home for you to cook?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah, that's right.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: What would they catch?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Sometimes they would catch--they eat catfish.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Oh, I love catfish. I love catfish. How did you cook it?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: My husband cooked them. He fried it and sometimes cook them in the oven, cook them on the stove.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: In other words, you could just do them more than one way. I bet any way was good.
Addie Lee, I know that you have special memories in that house. Did you always feel safe there?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I did. I did feel safe. I sure did.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: I wanted to know--I know you had lots of time in that house. Do you have any special memories that I haven't asked you about or any special stories you want to share? While you're thinking, let me ask P.T. if he has any special memories, Christmas, anything that he'd like to share or anything he'd like to say about you and your husband.
MR. P.T. RIDEOUT, JR.: When the sidewalk was repaired on the Oakwood side when I was around two years old, my dad took me out and put my hand- and feetprints there, and they're still there today.
And the Christmas time was the best time around the house. Dad would always buy a nine-foot-tall tree because we had ten-foot ceilings. And I would always be the one to decorate it. And I'd get on my ladder and take about all day to get it looking like I wanted to. And that was one of my favorite things.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: P.T., when I first met your mom, she made me go out and look at your fingerprints in the sidewalk. It's like a way of meeting you.
I know that they bought the house in 1938. When did she leave the house?
MR. P.T. RIDEOUT, JR.: That was around ten years ago, so it would have been about 2001. And she likes it here at Spring Arbor very much.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: They like having her here at Spring Arbor. One time when I came to visit you, Addie Lee, one of the nurses' aides said that you ran the place, that you checked in on everybody and that you were still friendly to everybody.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah. I know one thing you do--you would--you would come to see me and you would ask me what I need. And you would take--you'd go to the grocery store and you'd get me what I needed. And that was--
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Well, I did. I did get what you needed. But then I also--and I have to admit I would buy us some junk food, and then we would sit and eat junk food, right?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Right. But you were so kind to get--you'd get me something that I needed.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Well, that was my pleasure, because you had taken care of so many people, Addie Lee, it was time for neighbors to be kind to you.
Is there anything else you can think of? I'm so glad you're here in such a pretty place. And we're all looking forward to your hundredth birthday. Is there anything else you want to add?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I thank you all for trying--keeping up with me, you and--you and-- who--
MS. KATHERINE MOYE: Katherine Moye.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Katherine. You and Katherine kept up with me and did anything. Right now I got a beautiful orchid in my room. It's a beautiful orchid y'all gave me.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Addie Lee, one of the reasons, as you know, that I give you orchids is because it's kind of warm here. And remember when you first moved in, I kept bringing you roses?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yes.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And they wouldn't last.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: Yeah.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: And being the flower person that you are, you told me I needed to bring you something tougher than roses, right?
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: I didn't know that.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: So we do orchids now.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: It's a pretty thing.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: It is a pretty thing, Addie Lee, but you're the prettiest thing in that room. You're a sweet soul. Thank you.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: It's still pretty.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: It is still pretty. I just checked on it. Thank you for being our sweet friend and thank you for being such a grand, grand resident of Historic Oakwood.
MS. ADDIE LEE RIDEOUT: If I'd known you were coming longer, I would have been better. I would have had answers better than I did.
MS. BETSY BUFORD: Addie Lee, you did a great job. You did a fabulous job. And you--and people, I think, got a sense of you, not only about how smart you are, but how sweet and kind you are. Thank you, Addie Lee, and thank you, P.T.