Madison woman recalls past, but doesn't live in it

Opal Bridges said her family had a breakfast tradition over the years that she fondly remembers.

"We always had fried chicken on Sunday mornings. That was the only time we'd have chicken. We had fried chicken, cream gravy and biscuits," the 93-year-old woman said as she sat in a chair at the Madison County Senior Center.

Today, it seems people eat chicken for every meal, she said.

But the memory of those mornings when the aroma of frying chicken permeated the kitchen now spans the years, from the days when she was a little girl to her days as a mother cooking for her own family. She looked forward to this hot meal that included gravy simmering in the skillet and hot biscuits fresh from the oven.

"Always, when I'd take my chicken out (of the skillet), I'd put flour in my grease and brown it. Then I'd put my milk and water in it and thicken it a little bit. Now, that's the best gravy you can eat," she said.

Recently, the Senior Center awarded Bridges a trophy for the third straight year in its annual weight-loss contest among its members. This alert and energetic woman, born in the early 20th century, said the secret to her weight loss is simple.

"I just exercise. I've lost about 25 pounds in three years," she said, explaining that she uses all the machines in the center's exercise room.

"I don't eat as much as I used to," she adds with a chuckle. "You have to cut down on it a little bit if you're going to lose weight. I was just too heavy. When I started I weighed 185, and now I weigh 143."

Bridges grew up on a farm north of Danielsville off U.S. Highway 29 in the Blue Stone community. She was raised by her mother, Bertha Whitfield.

"She was a wonderful cook," Bridges said. "When I was 3 years old, she put me at the table and I'd make cornbread. I was always close to my mother. She taught me everything, how to quilt, make all kind of needle work."

Later in life, she married George Bridges. They had five sons and one daughter, but her husband died of a heart attack in 1963 at age 49. Later her mother came to live with her.

"My mother was diabetic and she lived with me, so I cooked her meals like a diabetic is supposed to have and we all ate it that way," she said. "I still cook that way. The doctor asked me one day if I kept her on her diet and I said, 'I cook what she's supposed to have, and we all eat it.' He said, 'You know, everybody ought to do that.'"

Bridges has noticed how things have changed around the dinner table for the new generation of children.

Back in her day, when a table was set for dinner, everyon