Editor's note: "100 Candles" is an occasional Herald-Sun feature about people who are 100 or older. If you know someone celebrating a triple-digit birthday in the Durham area, please call us at (919) 419-6630 or send an e-mail to news@heraldsun.com with contact information.
Dozens of friends gathered Saturday at St. Joseph's AME Church to celebrate the 100th birthday of longtime Durham elementary school teacher Addie Marie Faulk.
Faulk, who lives at the Brian Center on Fayetteville Road, has been an active member of the church for more than half her life, serving for decades as a Sunday school teacher and superintendent and an active member of the Ladies Aid Club and Lay Organization.
The only child of Hiram and Auzulia Faulk, "Marie" was born in Hertford, N.C., started grade school in Wilson and later attended school in Henderson before coming to Durham to attend the Durham State Normal School (now N.C. Central University). Normal schools were two-year institutions established to train elementary school teachers.
After completing her teacher education, Faulk taught in several North Carolina communities before returning to Durham in 1931 to begin her 39-year commitment to teaching at Lyon Park School. During those early teaching years Faulk took continuing education courses, earning her a bachelor's degree in 1941 from the school, which by that time was called North Carolina College for Negroes.
She was never married.
By the time she retired in 1971, she had taught hundreds of people who have made significant contributions to Durham and beyond. Tributes were offered during Saturday's celebration by some of her former students, including Eunice Sanders, now principal at Hillside High School.
She's been affiliated for more than 50 years with the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, 
and has been an active volunteer with the YWCA, Duke University Hospital and Lincoln Hospital -- the black hospital that was merged with Watts Hospital to ultimately become Durham Regional Hospital.
"She has been truly blessed all her life," said friend and sorority sister Janeen Grammage who, with her sorority colleagues, met monthly at Faulk's home for Sunday lunch and lively discussions until Faulk moved into the Brian Center.
Though she now uses a wheelchair, Faulk is still an avid reader and has good hearing and eyesight, said Grammage. So she still carries on lively discussions in her Brian Center residence.
Compiled by Herald-Sun writer Jim Shamp
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