On a wall in the unit sisters Rene Sutton and Opal Simmons share at Flower Mound’s Rosewood Assisted Living and Memory Care is a photo of the home next door that Rene and her late husband Robert once lived.
They bought it well before the town began sprouting up so there was virtually nothing around their then 2.5-acre property on FM 2499 that went as far south as FM 1171. Rosewood wasn’t even a drawing on someone’s canvas.
Little did Rene know she’d one day return to her former land and share not only living quarters with her sibling, but a queen-sized bed – just like they did nearly a century ago in rural Texas.
By the end of December, both will be centenarians. Opal turns 100 on Dec. 31 while Rene hits 102 on Dec. 10. Just like there was a big party for Rene’s 100th birthday two years ago, a similar celebration is planned for Opal.
What’s the secret to their longevity?
“I tell people ‘sit in your chair but when you get out of your chair be sure to move,’” Rene said. “Do something besides sitting around. And I think that works. My husband was 95 when he died and I’m still going fast and furious.”
Despite Rene’s blindness and Opal’s hearing loss, they partake in nearly every activity Rosewood offers. This includes exercise classes, manicures, musical performances, church, bible study, and more. Anything they can’t find through the facility they access through their two Alexa devices.
“We ask her all sorts of questions. Like in the middle of the night, I might call out and ask her what time it is,” Rene said. “You just ask her any question and she can get you an answer pretty quickly.”
The sisters grew up on a Texas farm in Taylor, northeast of Austin. When their father Noah Olderfield died, their mother Chloe moved into Austin.
Rene and Robert originally moved to the Dallas area for his 30-plus-year career as an air traffic controller. He died in 2016 and their only daughter, Deborah Box, died in 2018. Rene’s only grandchild Angie Brown, husband Brad, and great-grandchildren Adele and Stephen Brown live in her previous home on Furlong Drive just south of Flower Mound High School which the great grandchildren attend.
“We used to sit on the porch there and watch the ducks come to the pond nearby,” Rene said. “It was beautiful.”
Rene and Robert were world travelers thanks to his airline connections. And they always looked stylish due to her 22-years at the former Sanger-Harris department store.
“He could buy the tickets and I could buy the clothing,” Rene said.
Opal worked at a bank near Austin for many years while her second husband Howard was at the University of Texas. Though she lost her two sons, she has six grandchildren, six great grandchildren, and one great-great grandchild. She later lived near some of them in Cleveland, TX outside of Houston. After Howard died about eight years ago, she moved to Flower Mound, first to the Furlong Drive home, then to Rosewood earlier this year.
Today, Rene and Opal are inseparable. Just like they were when they were children.
“I love her,” Opal said. “She’s all I have left.”
 GIF.gif)
