Edna Mae-Davis Howard has long been known as the “community grandma” of Albany’s Arbor Hill neighborhood. This week, the 99-year-old was honored by new Mayor Dorcey Applyrs.
Edna Mae-Davis Howard was born in 1927 and moved to Albany’s Arbor hill neighborhood in 1950 with her late husband.
At the time, World War II had ended just five years before, and color television was not yet a fixture in American homes.
“It has changed, this world has really changed, oh, yeah. From 1927, boy, but it’s just lucky when you can still be here, a lot of people gone, I just thank God I’m still here,” Howard said.
Surrounded by friends, family and elected officials alike in Albany’s City Hall Wednesday, Howard reflected on her decades of lived experience.
Howard has served as an usher, choir director, and president of the combined choir at the Mount Olive Southern Missionary Baptist Church in Albany.
She currently stands as the church’s second-eldest Mother.
While delivering the proclamation – the first of her new administration – Applyrs spoke about Howard’s favorite scripture.
“Psalm 23 speaks of a shepherd who provides, protects, and guides, who walks with others through calm seasons, through the darkest valleys; never leaving them without comfort or care. That scripture reflects the life that you have lived,” Applyrs said.
Known as a “community grandma” of the Arbor Hill neighborhood, Howard has been a resource for children.
“I try to help people, you know. I’m good to kids, I’m good to grown ups and I’m good to elderly people. All these things mean a lot and if I can help somebody I do it. I helped a lot of people,” Howard said.
Howard is a fan of the horse races at Saratoga, enjoys playing slots, and scratches the occasional lottery ticket.
Howard’s youngest child, Geraldine Phillips, says she saw how adoring her mother was to “everyone in the neighborhood.
“I always wanted to be like her but she said ‘no, I don’t want you to be like me, I want you to be the best you that you can be,’” Phillips said.
Phillips said that growing up, Howard was “pretty strict” but also considerate.
“She did believe in us honoring her and respecting her, you know, there would be no back-talk or anything like that, I tell you to do something that’s what you are going to do and she was very attentive,” Phillips said.
Howard worked at the New York State Department of General Services for more than 30 years and became the first Black female supervisor in Maintenance Services in 1954.
Phillips says that despite working full time, Howard always made time for family, including her husband and three children.
“It was a family sit around the table and eat type of thing, everybody eat together, everybody serve the lord together, go to church together, we were raised in the church very diligently, my brother and sister and I, so that’s instilled in our lives, but she was also a mother that was compassionate to our friends,” Phillips said.
With 99 years under her belt, Howard says the key to longevity is having something “within you.”
“It’s not all about you, it’s about to help somebody else besides you and that’s my life, and I’m always worried about young kids. I just love them, I try to be good to them, I see kids that don’t get attention they need. These things bother me, so I have been a lot like that in life,” Howard said.
