Vera McConnell of Ducktown turned 100 years old Feb. 23. She has spent most of her life in Ducktown after a long distance courtship and eventual 52-year marriage to Carl McConnell, who died in 1994. During her life, according to those who know and love her, Vera has touched a lot of lives, created untold numbers of handcrafts and quilts, and been a mentor to many. Her life also touches many key parts of the history of her community.

In the year of her birth, William Howard Taft was President of the U.S. Her life has included 17 more presidents so far. Haley’s Comet was seen in 1910, and the seeds of World War I were being sown; the sinking of the Titanic was two years away and the electric washing machine was patented. There was no such thing as television, let alone the Internet. The U.S. issued the first postal stamps.

Son Ralph McConnell helped to tell her story. “She’s a remarkable woman; she had so many interests and talents,” he said, adding quietly, “I’m proud of her.”

Vera was born in Sevierville and spent her early years on a dairy farm near Knoxville, where life consisted of getting up to milk the cows, making breakfast, going to school, then returning to more milking, cooking and helping to care for her siblings. She started college at East Tennessee State, but hard times forced her to return home while her brother attended dental school. She got a teaching certificate and taught at a one-room schoolhouse near her home before returned to East Tennessee State.

While there, a friendship with a classmate turned out to be a turning point in her life. Claudia Beckler of Ducktown, who was also training to be a teacher, brought Vera home with her one weekend. During that visit, she met Carl McConnell and they began a ten-year courtship. She returned to visit with him by train while he stayed home caring for his parents, finally returning for good to marry him in 1941.

McConnell ran the McConnell’s Store in Ducktown, which had been started by his father, finally agreeing to retire in 1975 when he was 72, provided Vera also retired from teaching at Ducktown Elementary. The store served as Ducktown’s only library, providing a shelf for books left by the Bookmobile. The store building, owned by the city, became the first home of the Ducktown Basin Museum and is now home to Ducktown City Hall.

In time, Vera would be active in helping establish the library room in the town. She was also a charter member of the Red Hills Club, with which she was active for many years. Originally begun as a Home Demonstration Club sponsored by the Extension Service, the club continued for years, providing a creative outlet for its members and service to the community. Vera was among the most talented, if not the most talented, with her skills in needlework, quilting, and Christmas ornament making. She was also active in the Ducktown Methodist Church, where she played piano and was Sunday School director for a time, and served as Scoutmaster for her son’s Cub Scout troop.

Son Ralph said she was a stay-at-home Mom and did a lot of sewing and gardening while he and brother Jack were growing up, getting into needlework and quilting later in life. Her mother was one of the charter members of the Southern Highlanders Guild, he said, recalling getting up early to go to shows in Asheville, where his grandmother displayed honeysuckle baskets and corn shuck dolls.

Elsie Nelson of Ducktown described Vera as “an outstanding person.” She said the centenarian still sews and makes ornaments and her mind is still sharp, although she has a hearing impairment, and reads everything she can get her hands on. She recalled that Vera and Claudia Beckler remained friends for 75 years before Beckler died. She said Vera has been active in the Methodist church until recently and recalled the days when the women’s group would cook meals for the company men to raise money. She and Mrs. Guinn started a scholarship fund to which Vera made yearly donations of money raised through her handiwork. Asked how much has been generated by the work of Vera McConnell’s hands, Nelson said simply, “Oh my, a lot.” She, too, talked about the contribution made to the homemaker’s group. Members of the church planned to visit with her on her birthday.

Mardee Kauffman, at age 85 the youngest member of the Red Hills Club, said being asked to join the group was one of the best things that happened to her after she and husband Dan moved to Polk County. Vera once told her that she remembered when Kauffman was invited to join the club and said “I don’t sew, but call me if you want to do a party.” As Vera put it, “We sure did.” Vera kept elaborate scrapbooks of the club’s activities through the years, and Kauffman was instrumental in having them donated to the Learning Center at Copper Basin High School to be sure they would be preserved.

McConnell has two sons, Ralph, who lives in Chattanooga, and Jack, who lives in South Carolina, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. They plan to celebrate with her on Saturday.

In marrying Carl McConnell, Vera became part of one of the earliest families to homestead in the Copper Basin. Carl’s father Emory (1869-1945) walked from Clarksville GA to Ducktown to work for the copper mines. He married Minnie Villanoweth, a granddaughter of Capt. James Jory from England.