Several prominent members of the community gathered in the Silver Cross heath and Rehab Center Friday to celebrate the birthday of Richard Huxtable, 100, and Alean Fairman, 106. Fairman died later that day.

Mayor Joe Cox was at the event to present Huxtable and Fairman with keys to the city.

Fairman’s family attended in her place, and her sons Grant and Willard Fairman accepted a key to the city in her honor.

Her sons described her as a woman who loved her family and worked hard.

“She loved to go to church,” Willard Fairman said. “Loved to have fun and talking. She loved her children and she loved life.”

Huxtable’s daughter Lea Barrett attended the event with her father. Barrett said she grew up as an only child in Yazoo City, and her parents were there for her 100 percent.

“If I was in a piano competition, then they were right there,” she said. “I know when I came home from college and announced I wanted to learn to water ski dad immediately went and put a trailer on the car. At 53 he learned to water ski to make sure I was safe. That’s the kind of daddy he was growing up.”

Barrett said her father worked at Mississippi Chemical Corporation for most of her life, but growing up during the 20s and 30s, Huxtable lived on a farm with his family in Arkansas.

“His mother died in that awful influenza epidemic that was in 1918,” Barrett said.

The theme for the party was “Roaring Twenties.” Several staff members wore clothes from the period.

In 100 years, Huxtable has lived through a lot of major events. One dollar in 1916 would be worth $21.85 today. There has been two world wars and 16 presidents. To help chronicle those life events, Barrett had a book made with the front page of The Washingon Post for every April 21 — the date of Huxtable’s birth.

Huxtable has always been active. He rode a bicycle into his 80s. He’s in a wheelchair now, but Barrett said he’s been characteristically easygoing about it.

“He’s real matter of fact about it,” she said. “He doesn’t get in a real stew. In the early ‘70s when everybody had CB radios, and daddy’s handle was slow motion. He just really takes it easy.”

Barrett said she was thankful for the community’s support for the event.

“I appreciated it for him,” she said. “He moved here three years ago. He had a bad fall and I moved him down here to be closer to me. I appreciated how sweet the community was. For the mayor and alderman and Chief Bobby Bell to turn up and do all they did, that was an incredibly touching gesture.”