Helen ‘OK, so far,’ reaching age 100
Surrounded by family and friends in the Colonies clubhouse off Ebenezer Road in West Knoxville, she received plenty of hugs and well wishes while some 1920s’ music played in the clubhouse.
What’s helped her live so long? “I think it’s your good sense of humor,” her niece, Judy Hardy replied.
For Helen, the secret she advised is “work hard and have fun.”
On reflection, Helen’s daughter, Ann Raby, described her mother as “very loving. She’s always there when you need her … She’s a really good cook … we always had gardens.”
“Awesome,” her son, David Myers, said about Helen. “I’m so happy and proud she made it to 100 like she wanted to. She’s in great shape. She can probably go another 10 years or outlive us.
“She was an amazing mother, always trying to do more than what was needed,” he added. “She was brought up tough, of course, lived through the Depression, grew up on a farm in her early days and knew how to stretch a penny, let alone a dollar, better than anybody I’ve ever known.
“She’s still got clothes she wears that are 40 or 50 years old; she’s been very frugal, but very giving as well. I’m very proud and happy to call her mother.”
Always busy, “She never sat down,” Ann recalled of Helen. “She was always going.”
“She always worked hard,” Hardy said. “In fact, I’ll tell you a story about that.”
Helen always was active in the Lions Club — and still is — having been involved in the club since the 1960s.
Ann followed in her mother’s footsteps and currently is a Farragut Lions Club member.
Birth, marriage, more
Helen was born Sept. 6, 1924, one of three children born to Sam and Ollie Irwin, at home on the farm of her grandfather, Henry Irwin, in Jacksboro, Tennessee, “down near the river.”
Her brother, Wallace Irwin, and sister, Rebecca Thomas, are both deceased.
Her family lived on the farm until she finished grammar school. That’s when her father got a job in Knoxville, moving the family there. She attended Knoxville Central High.
She later married Charles Myers in 1947, and they raised their two children, Ann and David, who recalled he was 4 years old when they moved to Manchester (Tennessee).
Helen has two grandchildren: Michael Raby and Darren Myers.
