The Fairmont Times has a great
article on Nellie Demus Bailey, Class of 1938, who moved from Zionsville, Indiana
to help her brother, Nick Demus, Class of 1945, operate the Demus Market in
Worthington till it closed in 2012 after a 55-year run.
Even today, Joe Demus still sells Demus Italian Sausage sandwiches at fairs
and festivals.
Demus
and Monongah High had a long relationship.
There was Rose Demus, Class of 1939;
Joan Demus, Class of 1941; Rose Demus Argiro, Class of 1941, who married
Larry Argiro; Michael “Mickey” Demus, Class of 1948; Theresa Demus, Class of
1950; Jim Demus, Class of 1954; Ramona Rose Demus, Class of 1971, and Nick
Demus III, Class of 1973.
The Fairmont Times article on Nellie:
Each day to the fullest
Nellie Demus, with
philosophy of 'work hard and get your rest,' going strong at 100
·
By Cliff
Nichols | Times West Virginian
prevnext
WORTHINGTON — Nellie Demus loves making the most of each day.
She and her brother Nick were fixtures at
the family business, Demus’ Market, for 55 years until it closed in July of
2009.
Back then, just before the store closed for
the final time, Nellie said she would just have to get used to being at home.
“I’ll be working in my flower garden and my
vegetable garden,” she said. “And I love to read and to quilt and sew. But I
will also miss seeing and talking to the customers.”
She was 92 then and maintains an active
lifestyle today, after celebrating her 100th birthday April 18.
She was featured on NBC’s “Today,” show,
where Al Roker and sponsor Smucker’s are continuing Willard Scott’s tradition
of recognizing viewers turning age 100.
Was she able to watch?
“When I was on TV? No, I didn’t. I missed
it,” Nellie said. “I didn’t know they were going to have it on TV until after
it was over with. I know everybody said it was good. Some of them told me I was
prettier than I am.”
Longevity may run in the family. Nellie’s
great-grandmother, who was born in South America, lived to age 113.
Sitting with her brother, Nick, 90, Nellie,
the second of 10 children in her family (the first baby passed away), said with
a laugh that “I tell his nieces and nephews that I’m going to live to be 113
and just torture them.”
Nellie, whose family moved to Worthington
in 1924, said she “did a little bit of everything” while at Demus’ Market.
“I even cut meat, didn’t I, Nick,” she
added. “I’d pick up hind quarters of meat and put them on the block. I did all
that. I’d cut pork chops, just like he did.”
Picking up a 50-pound bag of potatoes was
no problem.
“It was nothing for her to pick up a
150-pound front quarter of beef and throw it on the meat block and start
cutting it,” Nick said.
They bought the building where the market
was located in 1954.
She doesn’t have any secrets about
longevity and good health.
“The only thing I can say is that since
I’ve been 9 years old, I’ve always worked,” Nellie said. “I’ve worked the rest
of my life. That’s all I can tell you. I love the outdoor life.”
Her other sisters preferred being inside.
“I didn’t like to be tied into a place,”
Nellie said. “I like to move around.”
“Her longevity, I think, was work hard and
get your rest,” Nick said.
“They said, ‘Early to bed and early to rise
makes you healthy, wealthy and wise,’” said Nellie, who was never married.
“That’s one thing. We didn’t stay up until late.”
All her brothers and sisters got a high
school and college education.
“All except me,” Nellie said. “I went to
the eighth grade. We were poor. There were no school buses at the time.”
She said she likes to eat “everything.”
“We cooked some dandelions yesterday, but
they were too tough,” she said. “(Nick) put vinegar in them. I love vinegar. I
could drink it. But I didn’t like it in the greens.”
If she had to pick a favorite dish it would
be meatballs and pasta.
“When you eat that and have a salad, you’ve
had enough,” Nellie said. “You don’t need a little bit of this and a little bit
of that. You don’t know what you want next.”
She added that “I haven’t had any good
spaghetti sauce for I can’t tell you how long because they use everything out
of the jar. They don’t make their own.
“Really, people work today, and that makes
it tough. I realize that.”
Nellie, like other members of her family,
had numerous jobs such as carrying water, canning, washing clothes, doing
garden and farm work and cutting grass.
“A couple of years ago, I wanted to build
me a little building, enough for 10 or 15 chickens,” Nellie said. “But they
wouldn’t do it, because they were afraid I was going to fall during the winter
when I went to feed them, so I gave up.”
Nellie has seen so many changes over the
years, though she admits she “was never a history person” growing up.
“We were brought up different,” she said.
“We couldn’t lie. We had to call everybody Mr. and Mrs. It wasn’t just plain
John or Joe.
“Today, it’s a different world with the
kids. We spoil them. We didn’t have anything when we were kids. You don’t want
to deprive them. I think you appreciated things when you were younger when you
didn’t get something. Today, they just don’t care. You always keep handing it
to them.
“Another thing is they don’t have to work
like we did.”
Nellie celebrated her 100th birthday with a
dinner including pasta, lamb, ham and a huge cake.
“You got what you really like,” she said.
Nellie continues to enjoy each day to the
fullest.
“I’d like to get up in the morning and walk
to the post office,” she said. “Or get up in the morning and enjoy the sunshine
on your deck with a cup of tea or whatever you drink. Look at your flowers
growing. I love to grow flowers, I love all that outside.”
