A long life and lasting legacy

A long life and lasting legacy

Alvina Wooten

By Colette Boehm / Photos by Kate Treick Photography

“The last five years or so, I haven’t been too active,” Alvina Wooten said.

Considering she had just marked her 100th birthday, it would be easy to understand why. But only two days back from an out-of-town sorority conference, and on the heels of a birthday party that brought out friends and family from near and far, perhaps she doesn’t give herself enough credit.

The regal, soft-spoken centenarian is still doing the things she loves, both at home and in her community. The cakes she still bakes from scratch are popular at family functions. She also participates in a graduate chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, a service organization that supports the efforts of local nonprofits and provides scholarships to high school seniors. She is also the longest-serving member of her church, Mount Zion Baptist.

“I joined when I was nine,” she recalled, “and have been a member ever since. Although I lived away for six years, I didn’t join another church and my membership remained there.”

During those six years living away, she was earning her teaching degree and beginning what would be a 38-year career in education. After graduating from high school in Pensacola in 1943, Wooten attended college in St. Augustine and earned a degree in elementary education. Her first teaching job was in Monticello, Florida, with an assignment to teach first through sixth grades in a one-room schoolhouse.  

“It was in a little farming community right outside of the little town,” she said. “After that year, I taught for six years at another Monticello school.”

Then the opportunity to move back and teach in her hometown arose. From then on, she’s been a part of the Pensacola community, living through many societal changes and influencing many young lives.

“I subbed for about a half year, then got on regular,” she said of teaching in then-segregated schools.

Segregation was a way of life she grew up with. Her recollection of those years is filled with a sense of community.

“That was part of our life,” she noted. “We created our own social life and everything. So, it wasn’t difficult for us. We had our own community.”

She was a part of that community from birth. Born March 10, 1926, to parents Lawrence and Winnie Reese Benbow, Wooten grew up in the 600 block of Belmont Street. Her mother, also born in Pensacola, spent her early years living at NAS Pensacola.

“Back in the day, civilians lived on the base. That’s where she was born. They had a community on the base,” Wooten said, noting that the area was known as Old Warrington. “When civilians were moved off the base, they established New Warrington.”

Her parents met and married after her father moved here from Montgomery to repair furniture at a local store. Wooten is the youngest of five children.

As a teacher in the 1960s, when schools were integrated, Wooten recalls both positive and negative reactions from white teachers as well as parents.

“It was good and bad, I’ll just say. You had people who accepted you and were friendly. Then you had some that didn’t accept you. The majority of parents accepted you.”

It’s clear that her strong teaching skills, coupled with a welcoming, gentle demeanor, won her favor with both students and adults. Integration led to her assignment as a teacher at Myrtle Grove Elementary School, where she taught for 17 years.

Throughout those years, in addition to the hundreds of students’ lives she touched, she also supported education and other efforts in the community, notably with her church and sorority. She has served as a tutor, Sunday School teacher and committee chairwoman at her church. With her AKA sorority, she has been a part of activities as diverse as mentoring young women on social graces to raising funds for a host of worthy causes.

Until a few years ago, she did all that while living on her own. In 2017, however, her daughter moved back home from Maryland and now once again shares her childhood home with her mother.

“I was blessed, better than blessed, to be able to move home because I wanted to, not because I had to,” said Wanda Wooten Brown, Wooten’s daughter. “She was living independently.”

In fact, Wooten was driving until 2020. It was then that she made the decision to hand over the keys.

“I was talking to someone, and they said, ‘Did they stop you from driving?’” Wooten recalled. “I said, ‘Didn’t anyone stop me from driving. I decided myself not to drive anymore.’”

She noted that she is blessed with people, in addition to Wanda, who are willing to help her get where she wants to go. Nieces and nephews and sorority sisters are always willing to help.

Those folks and many more were on hand to help Wooten celebrate her 100th birthday. The large crowd included her two grandsons and a host of other relatives, including her nephew, a former Pensacola city councilman. There was also a proclamation from the Escambia County Commission and even a written greeting from former President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama. One of her former students spoke, sharing his grade school memories.

Even those who could not be there sent their good thoughts online. The celebration, messages and comments showering wishes on this teacher and friend are a testament to her enduring legacy.

As this humble woman celebrates 100 years of life, she must take pride in knowing that her life’s work has made a positive impact on so many young people in Pensacola, from first-graders in the classroom, to churchgoers in the Sunday School class, to coeds finding their footing in the world.

And she’s not finished yet. Family gatherings filled with board games and made-from-scratch cakes bring more opportunities for younger generations to enjoy and learn from this positive, resilient matriarch.