THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, September 2, 1994 TAG: 9408310102
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 1B EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Pam Starr
LENGTH: Medium: 100 lines
MAE BELLE HUNT credits her long life to hard work.
If you keep busy and work, she said, you'll live up to the adage of being healthy, wealthy and wise.
That's why she thinks she's still around to celebrate her 100th birthday Sept. 1.
``I never gave age a thought. I was too busy doing housework and yardwork and other work,'' said Mrs. Hunt.
``Out of my whole family I'm the only one left. I never dreamed I would make it to 100.''
Even though Mrs. Hunt did not want anyone to fuss over this milestone in her life, son F. Wayne McCleskey planned a big bash at the Cavalier Golf and Yacht Club for Thursday night. Close to 200 friends and family members were invited to sharememories and pictures with Mrs. Hunt and enjoycocktails, hors d'oeuvres and the music of Walter Noonan for a few hours.
McCleskey, a real estate developer, said he gave his mom a party because she deserved one.
``She has been a wonderful role model and is quite a lady,'' said McCleskey, owner of McCleskey and Associates. ``She taught me the value of hard work but more importantly, being fair to your fellow man and honesty.''
Mrs. Hunt used to work in his office every Friday until four years ago, when she broke her hip raking leaves in the backyard. She still signs the checks, he said, but they are brought over to her.
``Her mind is just as sharp as a tack - nothing gets past her,'' said McCleskey, chuckling. ``She has a good sense of humor.
``And people don't realize how much she gives to charities. She sends out about 100 checks a month. She's very generous.''
Mrs. Hunt is a talkative and colorful woman, given to reciting snippets of her life in exact detail and punctuating sentences with staccato bursts of laughter.
She lives in a neighborhood that her son developed, Chesopeian Colony, in a ranch house that he built. Dozens of stuffed animals and exquisite dolls sit in chairs, on dressers, against the walls and on all the tables in the family room of Mrs. Hunt's house.
On a recent day Mrs. Hunt wore a white dress, white sandals, dangling silver earrings and a pearl necklace. Rouge brightened her pale cheeks, and perfectly defined eyebrows enhanced her sky blue eyes.
An eclectic assortment of rings adorned her thin, blue-veined hands, which moved expressively in harmony with her raspy drawl.
She described herself alternately as an ``extremist,'' a ``hat lady'' and a ``people lover.'' A long-time member of the Freemason Street Baptist Church in Norfolk, she also considers herself to be very religious.
``If you trust in God, you'll be all right,'' she said. ``My favorite preacher is Jimmy Swaggart. I don't go back on people that get criticized.''
Mrs. Hunt was born Mary Akers on Sept. 1, 1894, in a little town called Rocky Mount, near Lynchburg. She was one of 10 children.
``I was really born on Aug. 31, but the doctor told my mama I was such a pretty little baby, to make me a September baby,'' she recalled with a laugh.
``And my name was Mary, but I liked the name Mae Belle so much I changed it to that.''
She grew up in Newport News and moved to Norfolk in 1920, two years after she married her first husband, F.W. McCleskey. They divorced after 20 years of marriage, and Mrs. Hunt said that was her only regret in life.
``He was a good man, but we couldn't work it out,'' she said. ``I was divorced three years when I met Billy (Hunt). We were married three months later (in 1941).''
Their whirlwind courtship actually started as a business partnership. Mrs. Hunt was hawking the Madeline sweet pickles in Norfolk when she stopped in at Merchants Bakery. William Hunt, who owned the place, was more interested in the attractive brunette who stepped out of a green sports car than in what she was selling.
``I was trying to get an order,'' she said. ``The pickle label had a girl on it that looked exactly like me. Billy knew I was single and he asked me to take a ride with him.
``Three months later we got married in South Mills, N.C.,'' Mrs. Hunt added, her voice catching. ``We were married nearly 25 years when he died. He was a wonderful man.''
Mrs. Hunt moved to Virginia Beach about 20 years ago, to be closer to her son and his business.
Since she broke her hip four years ago, however, her movement has been limited - irritating Mrs. Hunt to no end.
``I've gone from being a fast mover to a slow walker,'' she said, shaking her head. ``I have osteoporosis and I'm trying to outlive arthritis.''
What was ironic for Mrs. Hunt, as she planned for her 100th birthday with a gala event surrounded by nearly 200 people, was that son Wayne ``despises'' parties and would never allow her to hold one for him.
McCleskey, whose birthday is Sept. 19, agrees with his mother.
``She really didn't want a party,'' he admitted. ``She thought she would forget somebody and leave them out.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff photo by PETER D. SUNDBERG
``Out of my whole family I'm the only one left,'' says Mae Belle
Hunt, one of 10 children.
Mrs. Hunt is given to punctuating sentences with staccato bursts of
laughter.
by CNB