NEWPORT-Janella Hooper Carpenter joined an elite set of Cocke County citizens last Monday, May 4, when she celebrated her 100th birthday.
In doing so, Mrs. Carpenter became at least the third Cocke County citizen to reach that milestone this year, the other two being Sarah Brabson, who turned 100 in January, and Tilda Webb, who reached her century mark in March.
On Sunday, Mrs. Carpenter celebrated at her home, "Elm Hill," the large brick Victorian dwelling built in 1890 by her grandparents, the late Benjamin D. and Townzella (Randolph) Jones. She is the daughter of the late Ben W. and Annabelle (Jones) Hooper. Her father, a Newport attorney, served as Tennessee Governor from 1911-1915.
Born in Newport on May 4, 1909, Mrs. Carpenter's earliest childhood memories are of living in the old Governor's mansion in downtown Nashville with her parents, her older sister Anna B. and three brothers Ben Jones, Randolph, and Lemuel "Tige".
Her job was to bring the newspaper in every morning. She recalls not liking the "ugly pictures of my daddy" (political cartoons), which appeared in the paper.
She also remembers her sister, then age 10, making speeches in support of women's suffrage, and her brothers Ben Jones and Randolph selling newspapers.
The older Hooper children roller-skated in the upstairs ballroom of the mansion.
After Gov. Hooper completed his second term, the family returned to Newport where the last Hooper child, a daughter, Newell, was born in 1916. She and Mrs. Carpenter are the only two children remaining in the Hooper family.
Mrs. Carpenter, a retired schoolteacher, was married to the late Beecher Carpenter, who owned the local Pontiac dealership, the Gateway Pontiac Company, for fifty years. Mr. Carpenter died in 1986.
Sunday's party was hosted by Mrs. Carpenter's two daughters, Jan Carpenter, who resides with her mother in Newport, and Kay Carpenter Jowers, of Georgia. Special guests included her only grandchild, Jennifer (Jowers) Burnett and husband Gordon, and their daughters Sarah, 8, and Abby, 6, of Alpharetta, GA.
Other family members included nephews Judge Ben W. Hooper II and Randolph Hooper, both of Newport; nieces Frances Hurd Mullen, Newport; Sandra Hurd Scott, Nashville; and Annabelle Hurd, Hendersonville, NC.
Mrs. Scott's daughter Martha Bowman Brown and her daughter Anna Marie were present as was a cousin, Jeannette Williams, Knoxville.
Other guests included former First District United States Congressman Bill Jenkins, retired Circuit Judge Kenneth Porter, and former Tennessee State Legislators Dr. Nathan Ford and Roy T. Campbell.
Current U. S. Representative Dr. Phil Roe and his assistant John Abe Teague, Jr. visited the previous week.
Friends from First Baptist Church of Newport and family members served food to approximately 100 guests, who brought birthday cards and enjoyed visiting and listening to musical numbers performed by Miss Mary Ann Little, who played the grand piano presented to Mrs. Carpenter's Grandmother Jones by her father, Judge James Randolph, on the occasion of her wedding.
Eastern Mountain Time Band, an acoustic stringed ensemble composed of fellow church members, also entertained.