MARSHALL - Madison County has a particular reverence for its aging population, and the community made sure to let one resident know how much it values him last month.
The Revere-Rice Cove Community Center surprised Cleophis "CP" Ramsey for his 90th birthday in June.
According to Ramsey's daughter, Connie Chandler, the team made sure to not reveal the secret.
"Just to see the expression on his face when he realized what was going on, you could tell how happy he was," Chandler said. "We kept it a secret, and nobody told him. All of these people were there to celebrate his birthday. He was really surprised, but he really appreciated."
Chandler said her father, who is deaf, seems to always be happy.
"He's just overall a great person, and he's always got a smile on his face," Ramsey said. "He's always been a really hard worker, all his life. He didn't let him being deaf stop him at all. He's worked all his life."
Ramsey, a lifelong resident of the Revere community in Marshall, worked as a carpenter and in construction.
He attended the North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton and played on the football team.
According to Chandler, he still enjoys watching football, as well as softball, but his favorite sport is racing.
Despite his age, Ramsey is still independent enough to be driving, which allows him to run his errands.
According to his daughter, one of his favorite trips to make is the one to Burger Parlor, where he eats breakfast three times a week.
Ramsey also still does his own banking, and mows his lawn.
According to Starr Ray, an administrator at the Revere-Rice Cove Community Center who has known Ramsey and been his neighbor for years, he can sometimes be seen mowing neighbors' lawns, too.
Ray said she posted a picture of Ramsey mowing the lawn to Facebook, and it was a big hit.
"It probably got more likes than anything I've ever posted," Ray said.
"He's quite a character," Ray said. "He's one of those people that even though he's deaf, it's not an impairment for him, because he'll make you understand his point. If it's signs, or if people don't know American Sign Language, then he draws it out on his hand."
Ramsey was married to his wife, Edith Ramsey, for 61 years before she died five years ago.
Ray recalls a number of times when Ramsey made sure to deliver his point while playfully arguing his wife, even if it meant relying on body language.
"She would be mad at him, and she'd be doing sign language, and she's laying it on him to where her facial expressions were everything," Ray recalled. "And he would get up and he would turn his back to her so he couldn't see her signing. Then, she'd get up and turn his face so he'd have to look at her.
"I mean, if you can imagine watching an argument like that, that is hilarious."
That sense of humor is one of the things Ray has always associated with Ramsey.
"People will be standing in a group talking and he'll walk over to them and he'll hold his hand behind his ear to act like he's trying to listen," Ray said. "He'll just laugh, and he thinks that's the funniest thing."
Ray said she has always been impressed with Ramsey's intelligence, too.
"One of the main things that impresses me is that this man has never heard sound. He's never heard phonetics or anything like that, but yet he can pronounce some things, and they're not perfect, of course, but you can understand what he'll say, and that just impresses the hound out of me," Ray said.
Ray recounted when her husband, Keith Ray, visited the Old Creek General Store and saw Ramsey and a young Connie Chandler at the store. As Keith Ray remembers it, Chandler held out her hand to ask him for money for a drink, and he joked with Ramsey that "she was spoiled."
"CP said to Keith, 'It was one I love,' and he said those words," Ray said. "When our daughter was born, he said the same thing to Keith. He told him that she was spoiled.
"He doesn't forget. He's sharp as a tack."
Ramsey's independent will and determination are characteristics that he has passed on to others, too, including Tammie Gunter-Evans.
Gunter-Evans, who was born and raised in Madison County and now resides in Morganton, made the trip down the mountain to see her old friend.
"I thought I was the only deaf person until I met CP," Gunter-Evans said. "He has been the only deaf person in the community for years and so he knows how to communicate with local hearing people using gestures or writing on the hands. He helped me realize that 'Deaf people can do anything except hear.' He knows all of my family members as he has grown up around them as well. He is my sweet deaf friend whom I have cherished for many years."
Ramsey's family has always been near and dear to his heart.
Cathy Stines attended Laurel High School in the 1960s, and remembers how much he would dote on Chandler, his only child.
"His world revolved around his beautiful baby girl," Stines said. "He could say, 'Baby' pretty well, and that's what he called her, always."
Ramsey's friends and family are just happy to be able to celebrate a man they love so dearly.
"This is special," Ray said. "Not all of us will make it to 90."
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