From the Annals of Eccentricity: Purple Lady Passes
- Monday, March 16, 2009, 15:53
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Variety may be the spice of life, but some people prefer to be under seasoned. One of those people was Myrtice McCurdy, whom the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports passed away on March 11 at the age of 100. Besides teaching fourth grade at Stone Mountain Elementary School in Stone Mountain, GA, for 43 years and Sunday school at Stone Mountain First Baptist Church for 50 years, McCurdy was known for something else: wearing only purple clothing. Head to toe, she was always clad in her favorite color, right down to her pajamas and her size six shoes.
In addition to consistency in her vocational and sartorial choices, McCurdy was a creature of habit when it came to most other aspects of her life, too. She drank only milk and Coca-Cola. She didn’t drive or cook. She never moved away from home where her family settled in 1918, and she never married, living with her sister Mary, who also taught for more than 40 years in the local school district. For decades, the two sisters held regular Saturday night sleepovers for their nieces, took the family on summer vacations to the beach, and hosted Sunday dinners for as many as 30 friends and family members at a time. And when children that they knew needed a way to pay for college, the sisters either provided the funds themselves or located them so that everyone could get an education.
According to the Journal-Constitution, McCurdy will be buried in a—purple—casket. Some things never change. But with a lady as remarkable as Myrtice McCurdy, who would want them to?