At eighty-eight and three quarters, Edythe Jordan knows how to enjoy each day the good Lord has given her. It's evident even before you get to the door. On this day, the small porch in front of her apartment is decorated for St. Patrick's Day. A table with a green tablecloth is adorned with decorations that make the porch bright and cheery.
Once inside, you're greeted with a smile and a hug, herbal tea in delicate china cups, plump homegrown pecans, delicious chocolates . . . and memories. Especially memories.
Edythe, and her late husband Pat, owned Jordan's Restaurant from the 1935 to 1965. The world renowned restaurant, was located west of Weatherford between the "Y" of Highway 80 and 180 (now Singletarys). During the early years, Jordan's was the only restaurant between Fort Worth and the famous Baker Hotel in Mineral Wells. In its prime, Jordan's Restaurant was famous, not only for the good, homegrown food, but also for Edythe's hospitality. She made it a point customers, famous or not, were treated like royalty. The waitresses were expected to make sure fresh flowers were on the table, the silverware straight and shining, and were expected to know every customer's first name.
Edythe has lots of memories about those days. One of her funniest memories was when legendary actress Greer Garson came to the restaurant.
"She had a full length mink coat draped over her shoulder, and as she sauntered across the room, she drug the mink along the floor, which made Pat proclaim, "I'm sure glad the floors were just mopped!"
Many other celebrities made their appearance at Jordan's, though maybe not quite as dramatically as Ms. Garson. Lyndon B. Johnson, astronaut Alan Shepherd, Jack Benny, Sam Snead, Mary Martin, Tex Ritter and Ben Hogan are just a few of the celebrities that have eaten at Jordan's Restaurant.
Another special memory Edythe has, is when Jack Bailey came to the restaurant. Jack Bailey was the emcee for the most popular TV show in the 1950's called "Queen For A Day." The show bestowed on an everyday housewife the title of "queen" and she was showered with gifts. The day that Bailey was at the restaurant, so was Edythe's mother. Bailey asked a waitress if they had any paper napkins. Using only cloth napkins, the waitress had to go to the back and get paper ones. Bailey took two of the paper napkins, spread them apart, and made a "wreath" from them that he placed on Edythe's mother's head, crowning her "Queen For A Day."
Edythe is like that too, making everyone feel like a queen or a king when they come to visit. She doesn't let the fact that she's nearly 89 slow her down or impede her sense of fun. She's always on the go: visiting friends, going to nursing homes to cheer up those less fortunate with small gifts that she has hand-made. She saves Christmas cards to give to charities, is a "grandmother" to dozens of kids at her church, and is a good neighbor who brings cheer and a casserole when needed. Not a day goes by that friends, young and old, don't drop by to say hello, or the phone rings with someone who wants to chat.
Even when she's unavailable to come to the phone, her humor comes through. Her answering machine gives callers a chuckle. "How do you catch a unique rabbit," the message asks, "Unique up on it. How do you catch a tame rabbit? The tame way."
"Life is what you make it," Edythe laughs. "Each day brings something different, and I thank God each morning when I wake up and put my foot on the floor."
Her outlook on life can be summed up with the following story. With a twinkle in her eye and a mischievous grin, she tells about the time she was at the mall, and was confronted by three teenage girls. As always, she was dressed in a spiffy outfit, and sporting new ruby-red rhinestone glasses. "One of the girls came up to me and said I was the bitchin'est little old lady she had ever seen."
