Storyteller, community activist celebrates 100th birthday

Bulletin report

Happy 100^th birthday! Celebrating her 100^th birthday, Florence Hamilton of Las Cruces received a glass sculpture from the Storytellers of Las Cruces (SLC), of which she is a long-time member and several times past president. A retired teacher, Hamilton is also a former secretary of the Doña Ana County NAACP. The birthday celebration was arranged by Hamilton’s son, Joel, and his wife, Diana, said SLC member Douglas Jackson. Storyteller Sarah “Juba” Addison presented the sculpture to Hamilton with a reading of Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise,” Jackson said.

“Thanks, Miss Florence, for rising and paving the way for me,” Addison told Hamilton at the conclusion of her reading, Jackson said. “Many of us in this room stand on your shoulders. I am where I am today because of you.”