The Lola Behind Lola’s

There are those rare people with such commanding presence and inner light that they are bigger in real life than any character in fiction. Lola Joliet Thompson Ward was one of those.

Born February 17, 1904, she grew up in the same house on Louisiana Avenue where she passed away 103 years later. The first of Fate and Aletha Howard Thompson’s five children, she was affectionately called “Polkie” in honor of her favorite polka-dotted dress. She described herself as having been quite a beloved and spoiled little girl.

The Depression, her parents’ poor health, sending two sons off to war in Korea and being widowed at age 60 were some of the challenges that brought out Lola’s hidden strength. She was bright and gracious but mostly she was strong—so strong and selfless, in fact, that it seems surprising she would have ever been a spoiled girl in a polka-dotted dress.

Lola personified grace and grit, and in an era when women were not business leaders, she broke the mold. She had grown up working in her daddy’s general store, and carried that generational profession onward with her sons, running Thompson’s Store well into her 90s.

There was something at the very core of Lola that commanded respect. She also granted that respect to others, never viewing people through lenses of race or economics. Rather, she saw everyone through the filter of God’s Word, living out her faith in how she treated people and how she taught others to treat people. In an era long before MasterCard, Lola had credit books at the cash register where she would write in your name and the dollar amount of your groceries so that you could pay up as you were able. The rich and the struggling alike had credit at her store.

Lola’s legacy runs as deep as her convictions and it impacted her family, friends and customers through her decades as the anchor of Saluda’s Main Street. She remains that continuous voice of wisdom and rightness the minds of many of us who knew her.

Lola was practical and although she would certainly never be caught without her lipstick, earbobs or hair curled and set perfectly every Thursday, she did not like “putting on airs.” In all honesty, she would not have wanted a venue named after her. But what she would have wanted was for people to enjoy themselves here. She would have cared greatly about their stories and the memories made here and the celebrations shared. She would have loved to sit down over a cup of coffee and “a bite of something sweet,” as she would put it, and enjoy great conversation in this place. Lola’s very presence would have added joy to every event here just as she brought joy to every day.

Lola wed a local boy, Roy Ward, on Christmas Day 1924 at the First Baptist Church and honeymooned in the Polk County Jail. Her daddy was sheriff at the time and since the new jail in Columbus was completed but not yet occupied, he offered it as a getaway for the newlyweds. She liked to joke that she spent her wedding night in jail.

Lola’s wedding was a small affair so the whole town had planned a surprise reception following the ceremony. Roy got wind of the party plans, and eager to be en route to their honeymoon, he whisked her away, not telling her of the party until the following day. She said missing that celebration was one thing she had a hard time forgiving him for, but she said it with a laugh. Laughter was something Lola brought to others with her quick wit and gift of seeing the ironies and brighter side of life.

So perhaps it is fitting after all to have this place of celebrations named in memory of the young bride who missed her own. Lola would have appreciated the irony in that.