Haley marks 95th birthday with recital, life stories
Posted on Monday, July 7, 2008
Stories about Mary Jane Haley's life flowed out of her mouth as easy as the notes of music flowed out of her piano Sunday afternoon. Haley wanted to share her life story, all 95 years of it.
Haley celebrated her 95 th birthday officially on Saturday, but she decided to keep with tradition and put on a piano recital / oral re-telling of her life like she had on other milestone birthdays like her 80 th, 85 th and 90 th.
"It was supposed to emphasize music and books. That's been my life pretty much," Haley said.
She sat at the front of the sanctuary in Rolling Baptist Church - where her husband once was the associate pastor and where she has played the organ most of her life - and played hymns like "Amazing Grace and What a Friend We Have in Jesus. "Sometimes some George and Ira Gershwin would slip off the keys as well.
Each song preceded by a story, like the time she walked by a bookstore and got it in her mind that she should get her job there. After Haley talked to the employees, she went to the owner's office where he asked her a few things about herself and then put her to the test with a simple question.
"How do you make 39 equal 27 ? "Haley recalled. "It was simple: 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 in the New. Three times nine equals 27. He told me I was the only one he'd ever met that answered it correctly. Of course, I got the job."
Each story was told with a sharp recollection of events, most followed with a good amount of laughter from the audience. Haley demonstrated that her 95 years on the planet have taught her a lot and have given her a reason to share.
"I thought about calling it'Lessons I've learned and am still learning, ' but then I just decided to call it'Why I am what I am, '"she said with a grin.
A lot of Haley's life was spent in Fayetteville, and in a sense, she is almost bound to it. She moved to the home of the Hogs in 1922 and didn't leave until she met and married her husband in 1941. In that time span, she managed to school herself in the art of playing the piano.
"I really don't remember where I learned to read and play notes," she confessed to the audience. "But somewhere along the line I did, and I've played ever since."
Haley graduated from high school and studied music at the University of Arkansas. Her name is engraved on the senior walk in front of Old Main, listed under the class of 1934.
The recital was not long enough for Haley to pack in everything from her 95-year history, so she left with a dainty Joplin-like tune and promised to finish her whole story at a recital next year.
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