The Stories of Bridgeport

Where People and history come together in unexpected ways

Sitting on the front porch and waiting to die is not how 62-year-old Trelvis Barnhill wants to live, so he found the Bridgeport Senior Center, where he’s sitting down for lunch for the second time.

He’s new to the community he describes as laid-back. Coming from Atlanta, it’s a different pace for him and he’s trying to adjust.

“When my father got older, he sat on the front porch,” Trelvis said. “I remember visiting him and asking him what he was doing, and he said, ‘I’m sitting here waiting to die’ and that’s not me. I am waiting on the Lord.”

By visiting the senior center, he said he enjoys the food and hopes to meet people and figure out something to do besides sitting on the porch.

Whether Trelvis knows it or not yet, while Bridgeport may have a laid-back feel with a friendly vibe, the small town of about 2,300 people is an historic town. Situated along the Tennessee River and less than 10 minutes from the Tennessee state line. The first railroad bridge over the Tennessee River was completed here in 1854. There’s now a walking bridge across the river and the seniors take a stroll there from time to time.

During the Civil War the town was a strategic site because of the rail line and the river. Today, the Bridgeport Depot Museum is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and Alabama Register of Landmarks and Heritage. It’s just down the street from the senior center, which is on Alabama Avenue in the heart of the small downtown area.

The center is on Alabama Avenue, not far from the site of a deadly natural gas explosion in 1999 that forever changed the town. Three men died instantly and at least nine others were critically injured, with one more dying as a result of injuries in the spring of the following year. Three buildings were leveled, and several others were damaged.

The tragedy will never be forgotten and today the town continues to work on a revitalization plan. Across the street from the senior center, an amphitheater, pavilion, and a playground make up the Town Park. It is also where the annual Trail of Tears Commemorative Motorcycle Ride starts in Alabama each September.

Bridgeport and its residents embrace its historic highs and lows. And they share their stories at the senior center.

Sue Lokotar, 73, recently returned to the center following her husband Bob’s death. They started going to the center together about 10 years ago and attended regularly until he got sick.

One of the best parts about the Bridgeport Senior Center, she said, is the stories you hear.

“There are all kinds of stories,” she said. Including her own.

Some 21 years ago, Sue was living in Canada and Bob was in Wisconsin when they met in an online chatroom while both were recovering from different surgeries. When they both healed enough to meet it person, it didn’t take long for them to tie the knot. After one winter together in Wisconsin, they agreed to look for a more tolerable climate and wound up purchasing property in Bridgeport.

Getting back to the Senior Center after Bob’s passing has been good for her spirits.

“I love it here,” Sue said. “The socialization with the little ladies here is amazing.”

According to U.S. Census Data, 22.4 percent of the town’s population is 65 and older. And several count on the Senior Center for food, fun and friends.

Trelvis isn’t the only new face in town and the center either. Mary Anne Tennant became the center’s new director mid-July. She and her husband Larry moved to Bridgeport in December after he retired from the ministry.

“We were looking for a place we could afford, and this was the first place we looked, and we bought the second house we looked at – it’s a hobby farm,” she said. “And we love it here.”

A friend from church told Mary Anne about the opening at the senior center, thinking it would be a perfect fit for her. She agreed, applied and was hired.

“I’m excited about being here,” she said at the end of her first week on the job. There’s a small crowd on this July 19th morning, with games and conversation taking priority.

Hot meals are prepared for 15 at the center and another 33 homebound meals are delivered, said Linda Larcom, nutrition coordinator for the Jackson County Council on Aging who is at the center training Mary Anne.

Ethel Ferguson, 90, soon to be 91 in November, is thankful for a meal she doesn’t have to fix and the van ride that gets her to the center.

“I live by myself and it’s good to get out of the house, talk to people and get a hot meal that I don’t have to cook,” Ethel said. She doesn’t always feel like fixing a meal.

She’s been going to the center for 25-plus years. Ethel recalls growing up working on a farm and picking cotton and corn with a pickaxe and hoe. She left the farm for town started working at the hosiery mill a few weeks before she turned 16. She worked there until it closed and found a job at the sewing factory. A work injury forced her to retire early.

 

“I miss working. I wish I could work now,” she added. “When I retired, I was home by myself.”

The Senior Center has been a mainstay of her weekday life.

“I enjoy associating with others because it helps get through the day,” Ethel said. “We’re real lucky to have a van, otherwise, I would not be able to come. I’ve been riding the van since it started, and it also takes me to the doctor, or the store and it really helps.”

Doris Clark, 86, has been attending the center for the past two years.

“I love playing BINGO, putting together puzzles, or whatever is going on,” she said.

A new ice cream stand at City Drug down the street is becoming a popular Friday after lunch excursion for center participants. They walk down Alabama Avenue to the store, so the extra calories don’t count as much.

Sherry Mitchell, 68, has been coming to the center since she was 50 as a volunteer, helping prepare meals, deliver meals and clean up.

“I knew all of the people here and I enjoy helping them,” she added.

For the past 17 years, Brenda Robinson, 57, has been the van driver for the center. She also helps with lunches, plays games and just enjoys being with the older crowd.

“I enjoy watching them and sometimes I bring my granddaughter, Jelani, who is now five.,” Brenda said. “She’s been coming since she was born and they have all held her, fed her and changed her. She knows and loves them all.”

As Jelani grows older, Brenda said she gets in trouble for telling her granddaughter to stop asking so many questions.

“They love her too,” she said. “She has a lot of grandparents.”

Sue Smith, 64, stopped at the center eight months ago to volunteer. As a cancer survivor since 2013, she enjoys helping others following her experience.

“I would drive by the center and the Lord impressed me to stop and do something besides sitting at home in my chair doing nothing,” Sue said. “Now I’m enjoying giving back to the older generation, cheering them up and giving them love and attention and the Lord has blessed me tenfold for it.”

For more information about the Bridgeport Senior Center, contact Mary Anne Tennant at 256-495-3383 or just stop by the center at 411 Alabama Ave.