At 102 years old, Mildred Kitchens leans on faith, continues helping others
TEXAS (CBSNewsTexas) - For Women's History Month, CBS News Texas is recognizing some of the incredible North Texas women who have made big impacts in our communities.
Mildred Kitchens spent decades as a social worker, serving families through some of the most turbulent times of the past century.
Even at the age of 102, she's continuing to help people.
"I'll be 103 in four months," Kitchens said.
She chalks up her good health to good luck – and country living. Kitchens grew up in Diboll, an east Texas town built around a lumber mill.
"It was just a way of life that's so different from today," she said. "Money was so tight. It was after World War I that we were in a terrible depression. Nobody had any money."
That's why Kitchens was determined to go to college. She convinced a bank to loan her $318 to cover tuition at what is now Texas Woman's University.
"I graduated from there at 19, with a double major in business and social work, on the first day of June 1940," said Kitchens.
During World War II, she worked for the Red Cross while her husband served in the navy. They eventually moved back to Texas and raised two boys.
Kitchens taught high school for several years before joining a first-of-its-kind public health program in the early 1970s in east Texas.
"I stayed with them nine months," she said. "We opened 13 clinics for over 2,000 women to have free birth control in that area."
She continued her career as a social worker for the State Welfare Service, helping countless women and families. Kitchens didn't retire until she was 80 years old, but she says her work still isn't done.
"There's bound to be some reason I've lived this long," said Kitchens. "I really believe this. There's something God wants me to do or be."
She often counsels her fellow residents at Brookdale Denton South, passing along her favorite Bible verse, Psalm 23.
"'The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want,'" she said. "That's it. I've told hundreds of people to memorize it, say it over and over, and it gets you through. It gets you through."
Kitchens uses her faith as a guiding light, compelling her on in this next chapter.