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Betty Jarrell, 104, holds a teddy bear she received from her ‘boyfriend,’ Billy Gibbons of the band ZZ Top.
The Grantville native eagerly awaited her afternoon birthday celebration while private sitter Ora Ross helped her prepare in her nursing center room Monday morning.
“I’m popping out the champagne later today,” Jarrell said. “Today is special because every birthday past 100 marks a milestone for me.”
“She loves champagne,” Ross said, laughing. “But I think we will stick with the nonalcoholic brand this year.”
In addition to her 104th birthday, Monday marked another special event for Jarell.
“Her boyfriend’s coming today,” Ross said.
“Her boyfriend,” Billy Gibbons, is guitar player and lead vocalist for the rock band ZZ Top.
Gibbons married Jarrell’s granddaughter, Ellen, also known as Gilligan, three years ago after a longstanding relationship.
The couple first met through a mutual friend almost 25 years ago at a ZZ Top concert in Munich, Germany, before embarking on a weeklong rendezvous to Paris.
“I remember a little while before we got married when Mrs. Jarrell asked me if I was prepared to marry her granddaughter,” Gibbons said. “I told her, ‘Well, we are getting really close, but sometimes we fight like cats and dogs. But other than that, everything is perfect.’ She just laughed and told me at least I didn’t have any scratch marks on me. I knew deep down at that point I that wanted to marry her.”
Gibbons quickly grew close to his fiancee’s family, especially Jarrell.
“He has flown in to be with Mrs. Jarrell for all of her birthdays ever since he married her granddaughter,” Ross said. “He also visits her almost every holiday. They really have grown close.”
Gibbons also occasionally visits Jarrell’s daughter other grandchildren, he said.
Jarrell has three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Her daughter, Betty is 76 and lives in Madison, Ala., while her son is 72 and lives in Hawaii.
Her husband, William, died more than 30 years ago.
“It’s hard seeing people you love pass away as you get older,” Jarrell said. “But I have lived this long by the grace of God.”
Jarrell met her husband through a mutual friend at the age of 23. She had just graduated from the University of Alabama, where she studied history.
“I’ll never forget our first date,” she recalled. “He took me to his hardware shop in LaGrange, and everything just clicked. I taught middle school in Georgia and Alabama for three years before becoming a homemaker.”
Some of Jarrell’s greatest joys while at home were gardening, reading romance novels and collecting fine china.
“She loves her fine china,” Ross said. “Before she moved out here about four months ago, she would spend all day laying out her dinnerware throughout her house.”
Jarrell gained her interest in dinnerware from her mother while growing up in Grantville.
Born Dec. 1, 1904, Jarrell frequently rode in a horse and buggy owned by her family and rarely rode in a car.
“I remember the richest lady in Grantville owned a car when I was just 4 years old,” Jarrell said, with her makeup almost complete. “She would let people take turns riding with her. My family finally bought a car when I was 12. That’s when I learned how to drive.”
As Jarrell finished preparing for her birthday celebration, she reflected on the many changes in the world around her. Some of the biggest changes were space exploration and the Web, she said.
“I never thought I’d see a man land on the moon and I never really use the Internet,” Jarrell said. “But the biggest difference between today and when I grew up are the lifestyles of people in general. Everything is completely different.”
Kenneth Thompson can be reached at kethompson@lagrangenews.com or at (706) 884-7311 Ext. 228.
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