Chambers-Lowndes-Jefferson County AlArchives News.....Centenarian November 21 1968
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Betty Beard rlbeard@cox.net May 22, 2004, 11:24 am

Valley Times News, Lanett, Alabama
On the occasion of her 100th birthday, published in THE VALLEY TIMES NEWS, 
November 21, 1968:  "Not many of us hope to be centenarians, and not many 
persons live to attain that honor, but we proudly salute a woman who today 
reached that milestone.  
     "Mrs. Herberta Mitchell of Birmingham, mother of Mrs. R. E. Smith of West 
Point, is 100 years old today, having been born on November 21, 1868, in 
Collirene, Ala.
     "Although Mrs. Mitchell has been bedridden since last December, she was 
active up until that time, and often visited her daughter in West Point.  Her 
doctor says she has a remarkably strong physical constitution.
     "MRS. MITCHELL was before her first marriage Miss Herberta Pierce and was 
married at the age of 17 to Mr. Niles Dudley (father of Mrs. R. E. Smith), 
both living in Collirene at the time.  Her father, Mr. Pierce, was the 
postmaster in the small village of Collirene, which is located in Lowndes 
County and which boasted a post office and a general store at that time.  Her 
husband, Mr. Dudley, played a fiddle and used to play for square dances and 
waltzes in the homes in and around Collirene.  Mrs. Smith says the folks 
around there knew only those two dances--the square dance and the waltz. 
     "Mrs. Mitchell, before and after her marriage, was an active member of 
the Presbyterian Church.
     "To her union with her first husband, Mr. Dudley, eight children were 
born, three of whom are still living.  They are Mrs. Smith and her two 
sisters, Mrs. L. H. Gilley and Miss Anne Dudley, both of Fairfield, Ala., a 
suburb of Birmingham.  Mrs. Mitchell lives with her daughters in Fairfield.
     "MRS. MITCHELL'S FIRST husband, Mr. Dudley, died in 1910, and some 15 
years later she was married to Mr. Mitchell.
     "Mrs. Mitchell had two brothers and three sisters, and two of her sisters 
lived to be more than 90 years old.
     "In addition to her three living children,she has five grandchildren, 
Robert E. Smith Jr., Dudley Smith, Hunter Smith and Mrs. Charlie Bartlett, all 
of Fairfax, and Clifford Smith of Lanett; five great-grandchildren, Mrs. Nick 
Wright (the former Dorothy Bartlett) of LaGrange; Mrs. Tony Dollar (the former 
Linda Smith) of Birmingham, Julia Nell Smith of Fairfax and Columbus; and 
Bobby and Betty Smith of Lanett.  She also has two great-great-grandchildren, 
Maury and Laura Wright, of LaGrange.
     "Mrs. Smith of West Point is spending today in Birmingham with her mother 
and her sisters, and they are having birthday cake and coffee for friends who 
drop by to extend felicitations to the beloved centenarian.
     "And speaking of anniversaries, Mrs. Smith and her late husband, their 
son, Hunter Smith, and his wife and their daughter, Mrs. Charlie Bartlett, and 
her husband all have wedding anniversaries in the month of December."

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