When Pearl Ryals turned 100 Dec. 25, 2012, she didn’t think about all the great things she had done in her life. She thought about all the great people she’s raised.

Ryals, a mother of six, grandmother of 11, great-grandmother of 15 and great-great grandmother of eight, said life’s greatest joy has been to raise her children and watch them turn into wonderful people who raise more wonderful people.

“I love watching them grow up,” she said. “It’s a pleasure to watch them grow.”

On her Christmas day birthday, her entire family and many friends gathered to celebrate her century of life at the Loxley Civic Center. About 50 people attended, and they had to use the Civic Center because all the people couldn’t fit in Ryals’ house.

“I’ve had a lot of years to enjoy them,” she said.

Of Ryals’ six children, five were boys.

“With a house full of boys, I had to keep them in line,” she said. “And they raised up to be good boys.”

Two of Ryals’ sons, Ernest and Dale Baker, fondly remember the lessons their mother taught them growing up. Even though she was strict, the men, now in their 70s, credit her for building their characters and helping them become productive members of society.

“She walked tall and carried a big stick, and she didn’t mind using it,” Dale said. “I like to tell people she got our attention through the seat of our britches.”

Ernest and Dale said what was emphasized most in their home growing up was being honest and keeping their word.

The boys were also taught to have a strong work ethic, each starting a job when he was 10 or 12 years old.

“The hard raising she gave us and the work we did prepared me for 20 years in the military,” Ernest said.

Dale said he always respected his mother’s ability to parent alone. The children’s father and Ryals’ husband of 30 years, James Edward Baker, was on the road full-time as a truck driver. When the two youngest children were still small, he died of a heart attack.

Years later, Ryals met Chesley Ryals, who she was married to for 30 years before he passed away.

She and Chesley had a wonderful relationship and were always welcoming to visitors, said Katherine Breeden, who considers herself Ryals’ adopted granddaughter.

“She always insisted that you sit down and eat with them, and I was always glad to,” Breeden said. “Even if I went in the morning time, whatever she had for breakfast was there for me. I’m not related to her at all, but she’s like my grandma. She’s been close to a lot of people over the years, and she’s just one of those people you just love.”

Now, Ryals still lives in her own home in Loxley, but she has around the clock company, which she enjoys. Ernest and Dale stay with her often, and they enjoy taking her to her one official outing every week, the Senior Breakfast at the Loxley Civic Center, which is held every Tuesday at 8 a.m.

Breeden said she looks forward to seeing Ryals at the breakfast every week.

“You always look for Pearl when you go there, because she’s always a staple,” she said. “She’s so dependable.”

Although she can’t get around as well as she used to, Ryals also loves to go out to eat.

“She loves to go out to restaurants to eat chicken — fried chicken,” Ernest said. She has several favorite restaurants, but she’ll go anywhere as long as they have good fried chicken, Ernest said.

“It’s my weakness,” she said. “I don’t know why; I always have liked fried chicken.”

Other than her love of fried chicken, Ernest and Dale said their mother has always lived a healthy, clean life. Maybe that’s why at 100 years old, she is still able to live in her own home, visits with her friends on Tuesdays and still has her original teeth.

“Most people are shocked when they find out her age,” Ernest said.

To Ryals, it’s a mystery — she’s just lived a common, simple life, she said. “Life was good all the way through,” she said. “We wasn’t ever rich, but we wasn’t hungry either.”