A northwest Atlanta retired nurse celebrated her 102nd birthday last month. One of the two gifts she said she wanted was to meet Bernice King.
During her celebration, the civil rights leader made sure that special wish came true.
Retired pediatric nurse and Army veteran Clara Bridges had a big birthday on Friday, March 24. Friends and family members gathered in the Peachtree Senior Tower community room to give flowers to a woman that has served her nation and community for decades, according to WSBTV.
Bridges has lived in the apartment building for 47 years and has been like a mother to the entire community.
With over a century under her belt, she says she loves her life and asked during the celebration, “What do we do with this beautiful life? Where do we go with it?”
In a release about the occasion, Bridges answered why she believes she has lived such a long and interesting life. She attributes it to having “a closer walk with God.”
“I look back over my life, and I [often] ask myself, ‘Have I lived my life that was given to me to live? ‘Cause [it’s] a lot [of us] who [would] take someone else’s life and live,” she explained. “But I wanted mine.”
Affectionately called Mama Bridges, although she had no children of her own, she told her family members she would love to meet Martin Luther King Jr.’s youngest daughter, Bernice King, for her birthday. Bridges apparently met the Nobel Peace Prize winner who was eight years her junior at some point in their native Atlanta, and the CEO of the King Center and civil rights leader in her own respect carved out time from her busy schedule to attend the party.
“Whenever somebody this age calls, God’s speaking,” Bernice King said in a statement. “I hope we don’t take this moment for granted or lightly.” King added on Twitter that she was “excited to honor her request and to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to her.”
It was a treat for King also. A fellow…
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