A drive-by 90th birthday celebration for Lola Elliott, Virginia Beach’s ‘little stick of dynamite’

The chair for Lola Elliott was set up at the end of her Virginia Beach driveway, but the soon-to-be 90-year-old rarely took a seat.

“I don’t know where she gets all the energy from,” said her niece, Priscilla Griner, who drove from her home in Maryland to organize a pandemic era drive-by birthday party for her aunt.

Elliott’s official birthday is Tuesday, but Griner wanted to mark the birthday the right way, and give her aunt, a known “fashionista,” time to get dressed up for her many well-wishers. Elliott wore a long coat in her favorite color: green.

In all, about 60 cars filled with Elliott’s family and friends drove by, rolling down their windows to hand her a card and say “hi.” Griner handed each car a goodie bag.

To most who drove by, Elliott is “Aunt Lola,” the 12th of 14 children who grew up in what was then Princess Anne County. She is the last surviving sibling — three died at a young age, so she was raised with four sisters and six brothers in a small home. In 1951, Elliott graduated from Princess Anne Training School, which was the county’s first high school for Black students. It later became Union Kempsville High School.

Elliott went on to attend Norfolk State College, now Norfolk State University, studying elementary education.

Her husband of 58 years, Joseph Elliott, died in 2013. They didn’t have any children, but she has plenty of nieces and nephews. She lives with her 11-year-old Chihuahua, Peanut.

One who drove by was Lenthia Willie-Clark, Elliott’s great niece. She said Elliott makes sure everyone comes by her home for the annual family reunion. Last year, the celebration was canceled, but Elliott remains the family matriarch.

“She gives me something to aspire to,” Willie-Clark said.

Elliott remains active in the Newsome Farms Civic League and her church, The United House of Prayer for All People, where she sings in the choir she helped organize.

Weekend Scoop

Weekly

Check out the latest entertainment and arts news, then plan your weekend with a look ahead at what's happening around Hampton Roads.

The pint-sized Elliott still drives around in her white Mercedes Benz sports coupe, getting her own groceries and going shopping.

“She’s a little stick of dynamite,” said her friend, Cathy Jones-Lewis, who lives down the street.

Griner, her niece from Maryland, remembers while growing up in town, she’d go shopping with her mom and Elliott each Saturday.

“That was our joy,” Griner said.

Elliott was excited to see all her friends and family, greeting most with a “God bless, y’all” or “Hey! How you doing?”

Elliott demanded a photo with nearly everyone. She plans to put the photos together in a book to help tell her life journey.

Gordon Rago, 757-446-2601, gordon.rago@pilotonline.com