| Sources |
- [S104] Cocke County, Tennessee, and its People, Cocke County Heritage Book Committee, (Walsworth Publishing, 1992), 51, 139.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 6 May 2007.
Janella Celebrates 98th Birthday
Photo by Duay O'Neil
By: Duay O'Neil
Source: The Newport Plain Talk
05-06-2007
Janella Carpenter celebrated her 98th birthday quietly Friday, May 4, at her home, "Elm Hill," on Riverview Street. She was born May 4, 1909, one of six children born to then Attorney and Mrs. Ben W. Hooper. Two years later her father was elected Governor of Tennessee, and her earliest memories are of life in the Governor's mansion in Nashville. She is the widow of Beecher Carpenter and has two daughters, Kay Jowers, Atlanta, and Jan Carpenter, Newport. She also has one granddaughter and two great-grandchildren. She has one living sister, Newell Hurd, Newport.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 4 May 2008.
Janella Carpenter is celebrating her 99th birthday today with members of the Gleaners and Fred Fisher Sunday School classes at First Baptist Church coming to her home, Elm Hill, to have Sunday School. Travis Ball, Jr. is their teacher. Carpenter was born May 4, 1909, in the home now occupied by Frances Miller, Woodlawn Avenue, a daughter of the late Gov. and Mrs. Ben W. Hooper. She is the mother of two daughters, Jan and Kay, one granddaughter, and two great-granddaughters. She is holding a blossom from an Empress of China rosebush planted by her grandmother, Townzella (Randolph) Jones. The rosebush, shown in the background, is in full bloom.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 10 May 2013.
Happy 104th to Mrs. Carpenter
Janella Hooper Carpenter, born May 4, 1909, in Newport, turned 104 years
old last Saturday. She is the only living child of Gov. and Mrs. Ben Hooper
and once rollerskated in the ballroom of the governor's mansion in Nashville.
A retired teacher, she is the widow of Beecher Carpenter and the mother
of two daughters Janella Ann and Sara Kay.
- [S112] Census, 1910.
Name: Margarete J Hooper
Event Place: Newport, Cocke, Tennessee
Gender: Female
Marital Status: Single
Race: White
Relationship to Head of Household: Daughter
Immigration Year:
Birthplace: Tennessee
Father's Birthplace: Tennessee
Mother's Birthplace: Tennessee
Household ID: 272
Page: 14
Household Gender Age Birthplace
SELF Benjamin W Hooper M 39y Tennessee
WIFE Anna Bell Hooper F 34y Tennessee
DAU Anna B Hooper F 7y Tennessee
SON Benjamin Jones Hooper M 5y Tennessee
SON James Randolph Hooper M 3y Tennessee
DAU Margarete J Hooper F 1y Tennessee
Bessie Jackson F 18y Tennessee
- [S112] Census, 1940.
Name: Janella Carpenter
Titles & Terms:
Event: Census
Event Year: 1940
Event Place: Newport, Civil District 6, Cocke, Tennessee, United States
Gender: Female
Age: 30
Marital Status: Married
Race (Original):
Race (Standardized): White
Relationship to Head of Household (Original):
Relationship to Head of Household (Standardized): Wife
Birthplace: Tennessee
Estimated Birth Year: 1910
Residence in 1935: Rural, Cocke
Enumeration District Number: 15-12
Family Number: 14
Sheet Number and Letter: 1B
Line Number: 57
NARA Publication Number: T627
NARA Roll Number: 3881
Digital Folder Number: 005461287
Image Number: 00322
Household Gender Age Birthplace
Head J B Carpenter M 32 Tennessee
Wife Janella Carpenter F 30 Tennessee
Daughter Janella Ann Carpenter F 3 Tennessee
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 5 Aug 2004.
Janella Hooper Carpenter: Last living child of Governor Ben W. Hooper dies at 105
NEWPORT —The last living child of Tennessee Gov. Ben W. Hooper has died.
Janella Hooper Carpenter died Sunday, August 3, 2014, after several years of declining health at the age of 105. She was thought to be Cocke County's oldest citizen.
Born in Newport on May 4, 1909, when President Howard Taft was in the White House, she was one of six children of Newport Attorney Ben W. Hooper and his wife, the former Annabelle Jones.
She was a descendant of some of Newport 's earliest families, including Major William and Polly (Kendrick) Robinson and Judge James Henry and Matilda Jane (Robinson) Randolph.
Her great-grandfather, Judge Randolph, who served in Congress from 1877-1879), gave the land for First Baptist Church in 1877.
When she was two years old, Tennessee voters elected her father the state's first Republican governor since the Civil War and the family moved to Nashville. She remembered life in the governor's mansion when her older sister, Anna B, gave women's suffrage speeches at age nine, and her two older brothers, Ben and Randolph, rollerskated in the third-floor ballroom. At age three, Janella was asked by her mother to entertain some ladies in the large drawing room and the youngster performed the Shimmy, but fell down and became terribly embarrassed.
Upon the family's return to Newport in 1915, they lived in downtown Newport in sight of her grandparents' home, Elm Hill, the large brick home with a cupola, on Riverview Street. Later they moved to a farm in Carson Springs.
The family attended First Baptist Church where she was baptized in 1920. At her death, she was the church's oldest member.
After President Warren G. Harding appointed former Gov. Hooper to the United States Railroad Labor Board, the family lived in Chicago from 1921-1926. The family moved back to Newport in 1926, again living at the Carson Springs farm. She entered Central High School (now Cocke County High School) that fall for her senior year and taught her classmates the new dance, the Charleston. As a member of the Class of 1927, she was the oldest Central High School (now Cocke County High School) graduate.
She attended the University of Tennessee for one year in 1927-28 and became a member of Alpha Omicron Pi.
During the establishment of Great Smoky Mountains National Park, her father was a purchasing agent for land and she sometimes accompanied him to the mountains. In 1940, she attended the Park's dedication by President Franklin D. Roosevelt at Newfound Gap and took pride in seeing her father seated on the platform with other dignitaries.
At different times, she taught at Edgemont Elementary School, starting when the school opened in 1930 during the Great Depression, where she employed her artistic talents by painting murals and backdrops. She also purchased shoes and sweaters for some of the poorest students and took them extra food. She later helped prepare soup in the furnace room and served it to students on tables made from sawhorses and planks. She also returned to school and earned her permanent teaching certificate in 1935.
That same year she married Beecher Carpenter, a state highway engineer. Initially they moved place to place following his work, and at one time lived in Rugby, Tennessee.
In 1938, during the construction of the new highway from Newport to Gatlinburg, the Carpenters returned to Newport with their young daughter and moved into Elm Hill, by this time abandoned and in poor condition. Built in 1890, the once-grand dwelling needed many repairs and the family moved from room to room to avoid the leaks.
Over the years, the Carpenters restored the home.
She also returned to teaching at Edgemont and additionally kept tourists after World War II, often visitors to the GSMNP, using this money to furnish and decorate the home.
In 1947, when her husband became ill, she oversaw the family's business, Gateway Pontiac Company, serving as bookkeeper and substitute manager.
In 1966, she once returned to teaching, this time with Head Start for five years, before going back to Edgemont in 1970, where she taught until her retirement in 1975.
During her retirement, she became active in numerous clubs and organizations, becoming a charter member of William Cocke Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. She also served on the board of the Newport -Cocke County Museum and was a member of the Newport Garden Club, the Easel Art Club, and the Cocke County Retired Teachers Association. She was an avid bridge player who oversaw the Community Center Bridge Club activities for several years.
When she turned 100, her family hosted an open house and many family members and friends dropped by for the occasion.
Immediate survivors include two daughters, one granddaughter, and two great-granddaughters.
Costner-Maloy Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.
- [S142] Newspaper Article, 3 Aug 2014.
(May 4, 1909 - August 3, 2014)
Janella Hooper Carpenter, age 105, passed away Sunday, August 3, 2014. She was born May 4, 1909, at the family home. She lived in Nashville as a young child while her father served as governor. She attended Newport Grammar School and, in the early 1920s, attended public school in Chicago when her father served on the U. S. Railroad Labor Board. She returned to Newport with her family in time to attended one year at Central High School (now Cocke County High School), graduating in 1927. She attended the University of Tennessee at Knoxville for one year, where she was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority. She also studied art at the Art Institute of Chicago night school, and later attended East Tennessee State and Carson Newman in support of her teacher certification. She taught in Cocke County Schools for eighteen years, primarily at Edgemont, and also taught in the Head Start program. Janella met her husband Beecher while he was working as an engineer in building Walters Bridge. They married 1935. Later, when he owned Gateway Pontiac Agency, she worked as bookkeeper. Following her retirement from teaching and bookkeeping, she joined several clubs and civic organizations that interested her. She was a charter member of the William Cocke Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. She also served on the board of the Newport-Cocke County Museum. She joined the Newport Garden Club, Easel Art Club, and Cocke County Retired Teachers Association. She especially enjoyed playing bridge at the Community Center Bridge Club. She was a longstanding member of First Baptist Church of Newport, having been baptized in 1920. She had a number of years of declining health, but was able to attend U. T. football games until age 89. She celebrated her 100th birthday with an open house with music and many friends. In the last years of her life, she had many caregivers. The family appreciates the faithful, loving, and competent care received. She was preceded in death by her parents, Governor Ben W. Hooper and his wife, the former Annabelle Jones. She was also preceded in death by her first husband John Earl Burton and by her husband of fifty years Beecher Carpenter. In addition to her parents and husbands, she was preceded in death by two sisters, Anna B Hooper Phillips and Newell Hooper Hurd, and three brothers, Ben Jones Hooper, James Randolph Hooper, and Lemuel Washington ‘Tige’ Hooper. She is survived by daughters Jan Carpenter of Newport and Kay Carpenter Jowers of Loganville, Georgia, one granddaughter Jennifer Jowers Burnett (Gordon) and great-granddaughters Sarah and Abby Burnett of Milton, Georgia. Newport area extended family include niece Frances Hurd Mullen (Maxwell), nephews Ran Hooper (Karen) and Ben W. Hooper II (Patsy), and first cousin Christine Jones Valentine. There are numerous other nieces, nephews, and cousins. The funeral service will be at 12:30pm Wednesday, August 6, 2014 in the Costner-Maloy Funeral Home Chapel with Dr. Charlie Boggan and Dr. Rich Lloyd officating. Interment will be at Union Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 10:30am - 12:30pm at Costner-Maloy prior to the service. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the general fund of First Baptist Church, 261 E. Broadway, Newport, TN 37821, or to a charity of your choice.
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