Alive and Kicking She Is: Ms. Myrtle McDaniel

It was my pleasure recently to spend an hour or so with long time area resident Myrtle McDaniel. We sat outside Green Acres of Baytown Nursing Home on Beaumont Street and enjoyed the warm sunshine, cool temperatures and low humidity chatting like old friends.

Ms. McDaniel is 88 years young and came to Baytown when she was just a child. Her father retired from Humble Oil after 44 years service. Her mind is sharp as a tack and we talked about old times, laughing like two little kids.

For the last many years, McNair has been her home and we both knew Tyree White, now passed on. “Tyree was a BBQ cooking fool” I said and she laughed and said he sure was. While we chatted, her in her wheelchair and me on the large oversized rocker, everyone who passed by had a kind word for her and she a “Hey, baby”! I asked if she knew of Granny Adcock out in Highlands and of course, she knew who she is. Granny, like Ms. Myrtle are local treasures.

She told me this has been her home area all her life and she loves the area. She told me she knows so many people by “face”, but she can’t keep track of their names “but I know their faces alrighty”.

She has a son in Houston who comes often and takes her with him for a visit. She loves baseball and basketball, but “football gives me the shakes. It just looks like they are tryin’ to hurt each other”.

I pulled out a partially opened package of sunflower seeds and asked if she minded if I ate some while I waited for my bride to visit her mother, “Ms. Verna”, as the staff know her and Ms. McDaniel, said “No, it’s alright. I’m chewin’ backer”. Sure enough, she pulled out a box of Prince Albert pipe tobacco and showed it to me. I, being an old ex-tobacco fiend from way back (and quite the brown leaf brand expert) commented that Prince Albert was pipe tobacco, not chewing tobacco.

She said it was and she acquired a taste for it when she was only nine. “Backer” was something she just took a hankering to and she said she’s never had a bit of trouble (or worms) since day one. Her Dad was a Chesterfield cigarette smoker and had a nasty cough, but her Mom chewed the “backer” and was just fine.

I told her I began my nefarious romance with the brown leaf when I was seven and we shared a good laugh. She’s a thoroughly delightful soul and said at her age; folks ought to realize that a few “little old” vices shouldn’t be looked down on. Take for instance the fact that there are few combinations in life as good as a baseball game with your friends and family and some “backer and beer – or what I call B and B”. She still enjoys an occasional can of Budweiser. “Not no Bud-Light, or any of that stuff – the real thing”.

“Now don’t get me wrong, I chew a lot of gum and even sunflower seeds, so I don’t overdo the Prince Albert”. At this time, I gave her my unopened bag of sunflower seeds.

I’m looking forward to our next visit. With her popularity, I might have to take a number.