Aiken native turns 102 today

One Aiken County native celebrates her 102 birthday today.

Vinnia Roberts was delivered by a midwife in a house off Whiskey Road below New Ellenton on Oct. 15, 1907, the fourth of nine children. Life in Aiken County was different than today for Roberts' childhood.

Longevity and health run in her family as her great-grandmother also lived to celebrate her 102nd birthday. When Roberts was 10 years old, her mother died during childbirth at the Aiken Hospital. With eight siblings, life as she knew it changed drastically.

Roberts moved to downtown Aiken where she lived with the Holley family, helping to care for the elderly Ms. Holley.

"Ms. Olivia Holley raised me until I left here ... We lived in a house attached to the back of Holley Hardware. There was a lunchroom across the street on the corner of Main (Laurens) where at the age of 13 I was hanging trays on cars with curb service," Roberts said. "I was a bad little girl; if I wanted to go home, I'd call daddy. I was just like a devil - I'd get a crying spell like I wanted to go home and see papa. I'd get to the countryside and see my brothers in the field working, and I would pick one handful of cotton and put it in the bag and cry because I wanted to go home. Then I would call Ms. Holley, and they would come and get me ... Growing up was the best time of my life I had up until my 20s. I was living like a queen. Everybody treated me so good."

As a youth, Roberts used to ride the trolley from Aiken to Augusta to go shopping. She recalls the big stores such as Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck as her favorite stops.

At 15, Roberts moved to Charlotte, N.C., alone, where she began to care for children and work in tea rooms. After several years, she moved to New York City, again alone.

"I was just a loner, and I loved it," Roberts said.

While in New York City, she continued to look after children and work in tea rooms and worked in a baby silk factory making children's clothes. She had one rule about looking after children: If they weren't old enough to walk, she wouldn't do it.

"I'm scared of little babies. When they can follow me around, that's when I take care of them," Roberts said.

Roberts returned to Aiken in 1974 and went to work for the Clary family until she retired at 85.

"I am satisfied with my life. I sure had fun in my days," Roberts said. "I was happy everywhere I was."

Contact Rachel Johnson at rjohnson@aikenstandard.com.