Everyone knows by now that America just celebrated it’s semiquincentennial, or 250th, birthday this past Saturday.
But the occasion also held a very special significance for Dahlonega resident Emma “Queen” Jean Jarrard as well, as she celebrated a major birthday milestone of her own: her centenary, or 100th, birthday.
Immediately following the Patriotic Parade on the square, a massive crowd of family, friends and well-wishers gathered at the Wimpy Farms event venue on Miller Calhoun Road to honor Jarrard’s lengthy and impactful life.
Jarrard arrived at the venue in style around 1:15 p.m. in a bright red vintage Chevrolet.
One of her grandsons, Clark Simmons, presented “Queen Jean’s Greatest Hits,” a recollection of Jarrard’s inspiring personal story.
“Born on July 4, 1926, Queen Jean didn't just share a birthday with the United States—she took the fireworks as a personal mandate,” Simmons told the crowd as a beaming Jarrard observed from the seat of honor at the front of the room.
Jarrard earned the nickname “Queen” in part because she and the late Queen Elizabeth II of England were born the same year.
Simmons recalled how Jean Jarrard’s father, Homer Cleveland Jarrard, relocated his family from Ohio to Georgia around 1930, at the start of the Great Depression.
“Granny’s seen hard times. They subsisted on what she referred to as cornmeal mush, which is basically cornmeal and water, and then whatever animals they could find. That was their diet during that time,” Simmons said.
The family moved back to Akron during the war and it was there, in December of 1941, when Jarrard learned of the bombing of Pearl Harbor as she walked home from church.
“She graduated high school in '44, took some kind of mysterious government job in Springfield … and then she joined Goodyear Aircraft as literally a Rosie the Riveter. She was assigned to crawl in the wings and the nose of B-29s, because she was small enough in stature to actually do that,” Simmons explained.
Jarrard met a young gentleman caller by the name of Thomas Miller, who would become her husband in 1946. Miller worked at Goodyear as well, but when the Ohio economy faltered the couple moved back to Dahlonega and purchased a farm.
Jarrard worked at Standard Telephone Company in Dahlonega for many years and built a family of three children, two grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren, with two more on the way.
She has been an active member of Yahoola Baptist Church, where her grandfather served as a deacon, for 69 years.
Following Simmons’ remarks, Yahoola Baptist Pastor Kris Butler came up to offer a closing prayer. But first, he issued a challenge to the audience based on Jarrard’s strong Christian example.
“For 69 years, she's been faithful in coming to church, Sunday after Sunday. Now Miss Jean cannot hear the preaching, she can't hear the singing, but she's there. So my challenge to you today is what is your excuse?” Butler said to laughter.
At the close of his prayer, Butler praised Jarrard as a hard worker whose determination inspires others.
“She's encouraged me. I want to work, God. I want to fight on the battlefield until my last days here,” he said.
