When Claudine Andress was seven-years-old, she left the big city of St. Louis, Mo. with its streetcars, theaters and museums to live in rural Alabama.

She brought her roller skate key, Christmas lights and library card.

When she got to her new home in Alabama, there was no place to roller skate, no electricity, no library and no refrigeration.

The city was so small residents had to walk two miles to even borrow a thermometer.

Though hardship was no stranger to her, when war broke out it was even worse as there was no sugar, no gas and no parties.

“It was an extension of those hardships,” Andress said.

She did have some fun every year making blackberry jelly a few days before Easter, even though she had to wear white gloves to hide her stained fingers.

Andress also attended the prom escorted in a borrowed horse and wagon.

She noted many women who are her age went through the same things she did during the depression.

“It’s made them stronger,” she said, speaking of those women. “They are not afraid. Whatever they are presented with, they will figure out a way to make it work. They have managed their lives in ways that are truly remarkable.”

She admires the many women who have become successful in real estate, law, or even started their own businesses.

“The Lunch Bunch” was started by her in her during her forties, when she lived in Mobile, to help women encourage each other. Eventually, she started a similar group on the Eastern Shore.

There are no bylaws, no dues or officers.

The only two requirements are that members don’t talk about their grandchildren and they actually attend and take an interest in other women. “This is about women being themselves, not somebody’s mother or grandmother or who their well-known husband is,” she said.

The two groups have 35 years between them. Andress is the facilitator for the group, and she is in charge of lining up speakers for the group.

A variety of subjects are presented that range from car mechanics, legal issues, investing or even bladder control, she said.

Andress said she once gave a speech to Toastmasters on how to make a bathing suit —— complete with a model.

“That was the best Toastmasters meeting that they had ever been to,” she said.

Andress is married to James H. Andress, who retired from the U.S. Post Office. They have one son, David McClintoc, who now lives in Birmingham.

Andress does admit to being a good cook, even making homemade bread and blueberry pies —— which she says won over her husband.

In addition to her roles as wife and mother, she has worked as a school teacher, been in communications, managed property for 50 years, taught Sunday school for 60 years and wrote articles for Sunshine Artist, an art show and festival magazine.

She is also a sculptor. Andress also boasts being one of the first women to sell lumber at one of the first lumber companies. There, she learned how to build houses and cut rafters.

Her lush back yard contains 200 different kinds of plants, some flowering, including tropical, perennial and Yankee scrubs.

“It is a challenge to me to see what can be grown here,” Andress said. “I was known as the ‘flower lady’ of Fairhope. I gave away hundreds of flowers.”

“People who don’t perform up to their abilities and are satisfied with being lazy,” is one of her pet peeves, she said.

Andress, who considers the city of Spanish Fort a “great hidden secret”, shows no true sign of slowing down.

“There’s so much to be done. The Creator made such a beautiful world and I’m trying to do my part to make it beautiful again,” she said.