A Centennial Celebration

by Amy Owens

Lillie Ross Moore and Mattie Ruth Cook are both celebrating their 100th birthday on September 25, 2011.  That’s right…both ladies have the same birth date!  Not only do they have the same birthdate, live at the same health care center right here in Rutherford County, and their rooms are across the hall from each other.  Could it get any better than that?

Happy Birthday Ladies!

Born on September 25, 1911; Lillie Ross Moore will be celebrating her 100th birthday this year.  She is quick to tell anyone who will listen that she does not want a big fuss made over her birthday.  And in case anyone got a bright idea…she doesn’t even want a little fuss made.  It’s not that she is tired or old; she is just not excited about having a birthday.  Having established that, she did sit with me to talk about her life over the years.  Keeping in mind that according to her, she is “too old to remember all that stuff long ago”!  But, this beautiful and bright eyed lady is as sweet and lovely as they come.
           


Mrs. Lillie was raised with her siblings by parents Grover and Mary Ross in Cliffside, NC.  She lived there all her life from the time she was born.  Cliffside School was where she got her schooling before heading to work in the mills. The family went to church together at Cliffside Baptist Church.  They were a farming family.  They worked and played together.
           
She married husband John Moore and they had two sons, Charlie and Joe.  Joe was in the service.  The most charming framed picture of these three special men in her life is hanging in her room.  She tells me who each one is in the picture.  There is Charlie in his graduation cap & gown, Joe in his service uniform and husband John in the center.  Two other pictures are on the other side of John, the boys at a younger age.  Smiling she shares that her sons come to visit her at Oak Grove and come during especially important times. 

Happy Birthday Mrs. Lillie!

To read about three other special Rutherford women, Mattie Ruth Watson Epley Cook, Mrs. Sallie Davis Greene, and Mrs. Violet Elizabeth Tate Rollins, see the Sept/Oct. 2011 issue of Rutherford Woman.