By Terrie M. Roberts
The aroma of fresh baked Hawaiian banana nut bread hangs in the air in the apartment where Edris Maddry lives at Tower at The Oaks. The crusty golden loaf of mashed bananas, sugar, flour, pecans and pineapple sits to cool on the kitchen counter as Maddry returns her attention to her latest handwork project – a cross-stitch quilt for a great grandbaby yet to be born.
“She makes the best banana bread I have ever tasted in my life,” says Norma Taylor, who lives across the hall from Maddry and in the brief time they have been neighbors has delighted in their friendship. “She is wonderful to know, a very caring person with religious intent. You can tell by her spirit.”
Maddry moved to The Oaks of Louisiana from her home in Kings Crossing on Labor Day 2018, her house having sold in less than a week of being put on the market. “My moving here was a God thing,” Maddry says. “I took the quick sale of my house as a sign I had made the right decision.”
She had toured The Oaks along with another senior living community and when she and her son got back to the house, he asked her what she thought. “I loved The Oaks – everything about it,” she told him.
More than two years later she still does.
Maddry characterizes herself as a homebody – baking and sewing keep her busy – but not so busy she doesn’t take advantage of all there is to do at The Oaks. She attends various programs and socials and shows a bit of a competitive side as a member of the Tower Tornadoes bean bag baseball team. “We have so much fun,” she says. “The camaraderie is wonderful.”
Friendships made from living in a congregate living residence have been an unexpected blessing, Maddry says. She calls Norma Taylor her guardian angel.
“When I moved in and she saw I brought my sewing machine, she said she knew we were going to get along,” Maddry says.
“She can do needlework in a way that is unbelievable,” Taylor says. “She truly is an artist.” Taylor knows of what she speaks. She, too, loves to work with fabric, having taught fashion design in Caddo Parish for more than 32 years.
“I’m still trying to uncover any sewing secrets from her that I have not discovered over the course of my career,” Taylor chuckles.
And, of course, the recipe for Maddry’s famous banana nut bread.