Name: Mrs. Lois RicardHometown: St. James Parrish, LouisianaAge: 86Age You First Fell in Love: 19Love Is: Well, in those days everybody was in love with everybody.On Love: I was married at 19, in 1947. In those country towns all the families know all the other families. He told his mother he wanted to marry me. He wanted to marry me because he knew his faults, he was thrifty and I was a miser. When we would go out, we went out with families. See, we were family oriented, we could go on picnics and ride horses. There were big farms and we were very family oriented; I'm the only one living now. I never had any children.On Racism: Being in a country town, you didn't feel it because we had a bond. When you came out to town, you met them like they were your family. You went to the levee [to sit] and we didn't feel it. You knew it was there, but the [older generations], they didn't hate, they did it because it was a tradition. There was always helping going on and people shared their fruits. It wasn't integrated but all of them didn't hate because they were too giving, we had a bond.On Life: I've been blessed to be here this long and I'm anchored in my faith. I have everything a poor person could need in this world. You've got to value your youth and your knowledge. Our race needs a lot of help. If the younger ones would listen, they would have power. They don't see what's good for them, all they want to do is keep up with The Jones'. All these young girls want to be Madam Queen and ain't nobody even paying attention to you. Degrees don't mean a thing, but use your intelligence.