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Century Club: Active church member marks 100th birthday
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Anna Mae Towns celebrated her 100th birthday on Sept. 29, 2012.
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Since she was baptized as a teenager, Anna Mae Towns has been an active church member. On Sept. 29, she celebrated her 100th birthday with about 75 friends and family, at her third church, Shiloh Missionary Baptist in Homewood.
She was born on Sept. 30, 1912, in Macon, Ga., the only child of Maggie Stewart and Ethan P. Randall. They lived for a time in Hamilton, Ohio, where her father passed away and her mother married Joseph Grier. Then they moved to East Liberty, where she attended Pittsburgh Public Schools until she had to drop out to help support the family.
She was baptized at Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church and later joined Union Baptist in East Liberty. There she was a member of the adult and gospel choirs and was a nurse and deaconess. When that church closed, she joined Shiloh Missionary. She is now retired as a missionary but attends services every Sunday, sitting in her favorite pew. Mother Towns, as she is known, lives in Highland Park Nursing Home and is active there.
She has one daughter, Irene Rose of Wilkinsburg, four grandchildren, 17 great-grandchildren and 14 great-great-grandchildren. After the service Sept. 29, she joined her family for a birthday dinner Sept. 30 at Golden Corral.
First Published October 23, 2012 12:00 am
