Mrs. Susan Pruett, widow of the late David Pruett, who will be 105 years of age in a few days, was baptized at Casar Sunday afternoon under most unusual circumstances. Mrs. Pruett had never been a member of the church in all these years, but she became converted a short time ago during her sickness and joined Pisgah Baptist church Sunday afternoon. The ordinance of Baptist was administered by Rev. J.F. Weathers. Many of her friends declared that she was too old to undergo immersion—a her breath was short and they thought the shock would be too much for her. Her physician advised against it but Mrs. Pruett insisted and her friends asked that her wishes be carried out even if she died under the strain, because she fell about four months ago and sustained a fractured hip, which rendered her helpless and bedridden.
Being unable to go to a pool or pond for the ordinance of baptism, Rev. J.F. Weathers put his mind to work and ingeniously built a large water-tight vat which was mounted on a truck, carried to Peeler’s Mill where it was filled with water, and hauled to her front door. Two wash-pots of water were heated to temper the water. Six men carried her in a sheet from her sick bed and carefully lowered her in the water with her head above the surface. The minister then took charge and after saying the ceremony, lowered her face under the water. Then she was quicky moved back into the house with a smile on her face and declared that she suffered no ill effects from being moved from her sick bed.
Fully 1,000 people were present to witness the unusual ceremony. Mrs. Pruett’s age of 105 years is accurately established and without a doubt she is the oldest woman in Cleveland county. She married at the age of 18, lived with her husband 43 years and he has been dead 43 years. Her granddaughter was baptized on the same day at Zion church.
From the front page of The Cleveland Star, Shelby, N.C., Friday, Sept. 1, 1922
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