Some remember her as an elementary teacher. Some know her as an enthusiastic traveler.
Those who know Bunia Baxter best gathered Saturday afternoon at Pine Bluff’s Old St. James Missionary Baptist Church to celebrate a landmark event — her 100th birthday. Baxter actually becomes a centenarian Monday, but the 130 or so inside the church’s Family Life Center took the opportunity for a head start to the celebration.
“I didn’t feel any different this morning,” Baxter said, asked how she felt when she woke up knowing she was approaching a milestone. “I guess I’m just waiting until Monday morning, but each morning I’m blessed to wake up and be able to do for myself.”
Nearly everyone was decked out in white and gold, as Baxter — adorned with a gold “Birthday Queen” sash and crown — sat at the head table between Pamela Baxter Johnson, the oldest of her four children, and first cousin Joyce Elliott. Sharon Fletcher planned and decorated the event.
Elliott, a minister from Alton, Ill., has a granddaughter who attends the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Baxter’s alma mater.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Bunia has been an encouragement to my granddaughter,” Elliott said. “I wouldn’t have missed it for the world.”
State Sen. Stephanie Flowers, D-Pine Bluff, even presented Baxter with a Senate resolution.
Baxter was born Bunia Skinner on June 3, 1924, in Stuttgart, and graduated from Holman School. She graduated from then-Arkansas AM&N College, and retired from Dollarway Elementary in 1987 after 40 years of teaching. (Dollarway Elementary was replaced that summer by James Matthews Elementary.)
Baxter also taught in the Gray Rock community near Paris (Logan County), as well as in Stuttgart and Helena-West Helena.
Shortly into retirement, some of Baxter’s college classmates considered traveling together across the country and around the world.
“I thought they were just joking,” she said. “So, after a year, they mentioned it again. That’s when we began to travel.”
The group of six classmates and eight other friends became known as Traveling Friends, and Baxter stayed active in the group for at least 30 years. The Traveling Friends first took a Caribbean cruise in 1989, Baxter said, and have since been to locations such as Niagara Falls, Australia, New Zealand and the Holy Land.
“In traveling, most of the people have come and said they would not have traveled as far as many places if it had not been for our group,” Baxter said.
Ava Jackson lived on the same street as Baxter near UAPB for many years and would become one of the Traveling Friends.
“She’s a sweet lady, very intelligent,” Jackson said. “I can’t say enough about her.”
Bunia and Albert Baxter were married for 63 years until his death in 2012. They raised four children — Pamela, Mack, Rudyard and Angie.
Pamela Baxter Johnson thought about the many qualities she learned from her mother.
“Organizing, patience, endurance, tolerance, grace,” Johnson said, “and she’s endured a lot of things, and she’s done it with grace.”
A newspaper-style poster, highlighting moments of 1924, with a picture of a young Bunia Baxter is posted outside the Old St. James Missionary Baptist Church Family Life Center. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
About 130 gather inside the Old St. James Missionary Baptist Church Family Life Center for Bunia Baxter’s 100th birthday celebration. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Pearl Matlock slices one of the birthday cakes for Bunia Baxter. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)
Napkins mark the occasion of Bunia Baxter’s 100th birthday, which is actually Monday, June 3, 2024. (Pine Bluff Commercial/I.C. Murrell)