Published: August 31, 2009 08:47 am      

Retired at 90

92-year-old recalls running a business and working with Corbin’s famous Colonel

By Erica Bowlin for the Times-Tribune

Click here to see the Aug. 29, 2009 Neighbors section in its entirety


At 92 years old, Eula Mae Bolton has seen it all.

After working all her life, raising a family and battling cancer, she still has the same zest that those who know her have come to expect.

Eula Mae sits at her desk and pushes her small frames back up on her nose as she gazes down at some paper work. She rearranges the papers into different stacks and looks up.

Her eyes tell the story of a woman who has seen triumph, tears, sorrow and accomplishment.

“I’ve done a lot of things in my life,” she said.

Eula Mae Bolton was born in Blackwater in 1917. She was only child of Bruce and Martha Hale. The family relocated to the Cane Creek community in the early 1920’s. After she graduated from Bush High School in 1936, she moved to Corbin, and began working at First National Bank. Eula Mae said she enjoyed her job at the bank, but she wanted to be her own boss.

Eula Mae met and married Richard Rose, and in 1952, the couple opened Rose Bookkeeping and Tax Service.

Eula Mae and her husband raised their two children Bruce and Irma, and the family business flourished. They did accounting and bookkeeping for many local businesses such as the Dixie Pool Room and Cumberland Memorial Gardens.

Eula Mae said it was hard work raising a family and running a business.

“It wasn’t easy, and you had to do some planning. You have to know what you are doing; you stay up late and wake up early. It really does take a lot of forethought,” she said.

In the 1950’s Eula Mae met Harlan Sanders when he came in to have some papers notarized. Soon she and the Colonel were working together.

“He asked me to move my office into his office, because he had a much bigger place, and so I did,” she said, and added, “We did more than bookkeeping; I worked as his secretary and a supervisor in the packaging department.”

According to Eula Mae, Sanders was a very determined man.

“He was all business one hundred percent. He was all business day and night,” she said.

Eula Mae said she enjoyed working with Colonel Sanders, but as Kentucky Fried Chicken grew into an empire, the business became a corporation. Eula Mae focused her energy once again on doing bookkeeping and accounting for other local businesses.

After her husband Richard passed away in 1967, she continued the family business and worked until 1978.

Eula Mae took early retirement and got remarried. Her second husband, Raymond Bolton, was retired as well, and the two decided travel and take a much needed vacation. Eula Mae smiles as she recalls the joys of traveling.

“I especially liked Vegas, it was out of this world.. We went to Arizona, and to the California beaches. After a lifetime of working it was good to just relax, maybe throw a rock in the ocean,” she said.

Eula Mae said her most memorable trip was that she and her daughter Irma took to Israel.

“It was really something to be able to see the holy land,” she said.

“It was a wonderful trip, we waded in the Jordan river, and laid hands on the tomb of Jesus. That is something I will never forget.”

In 1988, Raymond passed away, and Eula decided to go back to work.

“I had too much spare time on my hands, so I started another accounting business. I called it ‘Affordable Tax Service’ which I operated until 2008,” said Eula Mae.

Eula Mae continued to work until she was 90-years-old; she volunteered her time in the food pantry of Glenn Shumate Ministry.

“I really loved working there. I think there was about 15 or 20 of us that worked there and we just had a good time. It felt good to help out,” she said.

Eula Mae still lives in Corbin with her daughter Irma. Irma has multiple sclerosis and for the last thirteen years, Eula Mae has been her caregiver. Eula Mae looks into the living room where Irma is sitting on the recliner watching television.

“Of course I don’t do it alone, of course I have help, and me and Irma really take care of each other,” she said.

“We enjoy spending time together and we laugh and joke a lot,” she said.

Eula Mae recently celebrated her 92nd birthday, and even after a lifetime of accomplishments and service, she has no intention of slowing down.

“As long as I am able to, I will keep doing what I’m doing. If you sit around and decide to be miserable, then you will be, but if you just make the most of each day and keep your faith, well then, you just keep on going as long as the Lord allows.”

Erica Bowlin is a former Miss Whitley County. She is a mother and homemaker currently living in Lily. She can be reached at ericalynnbowlin@yahoo.com