TOP PHOTO:  Reva Mae Jones is officially 100-years old today.

CARYVILLE, TN (WLAF) – Reva Mae Jones’ 100th birthday party may have been last Saturday, but she’s still celebrating.  And who can blame her?

Reva’s sons, Donald and Charles, helped her celebrate her milestone birthday.

“My mother lived to be 101 years old, but I had no idea I’d ever live to be this old,” said the spry centurion.  She said, “People laugh, but I credit the protection I received from my husband, Harry, and how he cared for me for my longevity.”

Reva was born August 12, 1920, at the one-time Block Coal Mining Camp near Caryville and hasn’t ventured too far from her birth place all these 100-years.  She also lived at Stony Fork but has resided at Caryville for the better part of her days.

She met her one and only love, Harry Jones, during the school bus ride from Stony Fork to Jacksboro Central High School.  The high school, in those days, was on the hill where the Jacksboro Elementary School now sits.

“My daddy wouldn’t let me date until I graduated from high school for fear I might get married and quit school before I finished.  Those bus rides to school every day served as my way of sort of dating Harry and being able to see him,” said Jones.

Saturday’s celebration was held at Reva Mae’s church, the La Follette Church of Christ in La Follette.

Jones is not coasting into her 100th birthday.  She still lives by herself after Harry’s passing in 2008 at age 91.  Her love for sewing and reading continues though, at this age, she misses her contemporaries.  “Treci Sherfield was my last longtime friend, and she’s been gone for a few years now.  She lived to be 99,” said Reva Mae.

Reva raised two boys, Donald and Charles, and her career was being a housewife while Harry worked, first, for the Block Coal Company.  “After the mines closed, he went to work for General Motors at Cincinnati, and when the plant was moved to Atlanta, he worked there until he retired,” she said.

Reva Mae Jones was born on August 12, 1920.

Last Saturday, friends and fellow church members at the La Follette Church of Christ gathered at the church to help Reva Mae celebrate her milestone birthday.  “We had it on Saturday since my birthday fell in the middle of the week this year,” the now 100-year old said.

Happy Birthday, Reva Mae!  (WLAF NEWS PUBLISHED – 08/12/2020-6AM)