The Cookie Lady

Life is sweet for 'the cookie lady'

By John Charles Robbins

Frances Barnard's cookbook is selling like hotcakes and she's bubbling like butter on a hot grill.
"I'm just thrilled! I am astounded. I'm overwhelmed at the response," Barnard said from her warm and friendly cottage at Summerville's Presbyterian Home of South Carolina.
Barnard, who turned 90 this year, is basking in the glow generated by her very personal cookbook, "The Sellers' Sisters Cookbook."
"I've sold 400 copies already, and had to reorder. And today, two more people stopped me and said they want a copy," she said with pride.
It's a collection of the recipes she shared and exchanged with her sisters, Tedie, Dot and Kitty, over the miles and over the years in countless, regular letters.
"As each of us married and moved to a different state, we had to depend on letters or phone calls to keep in touch," she writes in her book. "Almost every week when I opened my letters, a recipe would fall out."
She and her husband, Robert, have lived at the Presbyterian Home only a few years, but she quickly established a reputation for her culinary skills and generosity.
"They call me 'the cookie lady' because I give cookies to everyone on their birthday," said Barnard, whose stylish, wavy white hair frames the rosy face of everyone's grandmother.
She managed to get a list of birthdays for the nearly 300 people who live in the community.
"I hand deliver them, with a little birthday card," she said. "It's a touch of something personal."
And the fortunate recipients of her cookies love them and ask for more.
What's her special ingredient? Real, honest-to-goodness vanilla, none of that cheap imitation stuff for Barnard's cookies.
She's on her third stove since moving into the cottage during the summer of 2001.
Barnard is a happy lady, grateful for all that life has given her.
"At my age I have amazing energy — I honestly do. I just don't get tired," she said, jumping up from her chair to fetch a photograph from the other room for a visitor to see.
"I cook every day. That's my joy," she said.
What's her secret to longevity?
"My secret? Be happy and content with what you've got — of course it's okay to aspire to other things, but it's important to be happy and content," she said.
Her father died before she was born, and her mother passed away when she was 10. She was raised by her older sister in a loving and nurturing environment.
"I grew up in a strong Christian home, with tons of love," she said, her eyes brightening as she remembered.
The only dip in Barnard's sunny disposition came when she spoke about the growing division of family and friends in these fast-paced days, when a two-line e-mail has replaced a thoughtful passage conveyed by pen and paper and sealed in an envelope for far away destinations.
"It's sad, really, how we're losing an art form ... a way for people to exchange views and comments and send their love," she said, shaking her head.
Her small, cheery kitchen is her favorite place to be. "I love my little kitchen," she said, glancing around the room and lightly touching her hands to the countertops.
For now, she is enjoying the popularity of her cookbook, and the company of good friends in the close-knit neighborhood.
And the secret to a long and happy life? All you need is love — and a little cookie dough.