Thursday, March 19 was "Big Mama Day" in Bastrop.

Mayor Ken Kesselus declared it so — the date marked the 103rd birthday of lifelong Bastrop resident Isabella Gage Tarver Meshack, or Big Mama as her friends and family affectionately call her.

"You’re the most important citizen in this community today," Kesselus told Meshack at a party Thursday at the Bastrop Lost Pines Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. "You’re an inspiration to all of us."

Brightly colored balloons and table cloths adorned the room in the nursing home, where residents, staff and family members gathered to celebrate the woman of the hour.

At the center of it all, Meshack sat perched in her wheelchair behind a big white birthday cake, nodding adamantly as Kesselus and others spoke about her life.

"Big Mama would always say: ‘You’ve got to vote — make it count!’" Kesselus said, while reading a city proclamation dedicated to Meshack. In her many years of life, Meshack has been a passionate advocate for the right to vote.

Nursing home administrator Bertha Garza read an official message from Gov. Greg Abbott addressed to Meshack, congratulating her on her birthday. "You have made the Lone Star State proud," Abbott wrote.

"How many of us can say we know a woman that has seen six generations of a family?" said Eric R. Tarver, one of Meshack’s 26 grandchildren. She also has six children, 42 great-grandchildren, 32 great-great grandchildren and three great-great-great grandchildren, many of whom were there to celebrate with the matriarch.

"We look forward to celebrating next year, God willing," Tarver said at the celebration, smiling at his grandmother.

City Councilman Dock Jackson, who grew up in Bastrop and has known Meshack’s family his whole life, has fond memories of her and their times together.

"She’s quite a lady. An amazing life she has lived," said Jackson, who has written two or three articles about Meshack in the Bastrop Advertiser over the years. While interviewing her for one, she showed him an actual poll tax, Jackson said.

After Meshack cut her cake, her son Norman Tarver leaned in and asked his mother: "What’s the secret to a long life?"

"Having faith," she said, nodding.