Mrs. Winnie “Earl” Taylor and Mrs. Elizabeth Eakins
Snyder Nursing Home
Mrs. Winnie “Earl” Taylor, 107 years old and her little sister, Mrs. Elizabeth Eakins, 100 years old, were born and raised in the Catawba Area of Roanoke County, Virginia. Mrs. Taylor was the 13th child of a family of 17. Mrs. Eakins was the baby and was the 17th child. The two sisters are the last living siblings.
Mrs. Taylor was a homemaker and a lifelong member of Shiloh Methodist Church. At the age of 102, she was still mowing her grass until she fell and broke her hip. Being a country woman she enjoyed gardening, canning, quilting, baking and taking care of her three daughters.
Mrs. Eakins was a homemaker until her first husband contracted Tuberculosis (TB) and had to be hospitalized for over a year. To make ends meet, she worked part time at the post office and was also the cook at the local school. Mrs. Eakins enjoyed cooking/baking and making crafts. She was widowed at 58 years old but remarried in 1975. Mrs. Eakins and her second husband learned square dancing and danced for years. She made her own square dancing dresses along with making her husband’s square dancing shirts. Mrs. Eakins is the mother of three daughters and one son. Even now she continues to stay busy.
Together, these two sisters have quite a bit of longevity, 207 years total. They live across the hall from one another at Snyder Nursing Home in Salem and visit with each other daily.
Mrs. Winnie “Earl” Taylor and her sister Mrs. Elizabeth Eakins are both residents of Snyder Nursing Home in Salem. Mrs. Taylor has resided at the nursing home since September 2010 and Mrs. Eakins has been there since January 2014.
