NATCHEZ — For friends and family that want to stop by, she is forever the entertainer.

When The Dart landed on Creek Street Saturday, the sound of laughter and the retelling of old stories were most apparent as Flanagan was playing host to three others on her porch.

“It is all about laughing and fun,” said Sarah Thomas, who says Flanagan is like a mother to her.

Flanagan, 66, has lived alone in her house for nine years, but she describes her situation as far from lonely.

“I don’t have to leave my porch, they come find me,” she said.

Daily, Flanagan is visited by family. They don’t just come over to check on her, but to have a good time.

“I come over every chance I get,” said Leroy Rowan Alexander, Flanagan’s nephew. “She feeds us, she tells stories — we have fun.”

It helps that Flanagan was the first of 10 children and has an even larger extended family.

“A hundred would be cutting it short,” she said.

But non-family members that visit feel like family, too.

“She has never met a stranger in her life,” Stanley Nelson said. “We are all family.”

Flanagan has two sons that moved to Texas for better opportunities. She said a lot of the younger people in her family have done the same.

“Everybody left here are senior citizens and mental patients,” she joked.

Even with her children gone to Texas, she would not even think about leaving Natchez. It is the people that keep her here.

“Black, white, brown and green, I love everybody in Natchez,” she said. “It is home. It is family.”