PHOTO BY BRETT CAMPBELL In the comfort of her room at The Aspen, decorated to resemble her previous home, Phyllis Spearman shares photos and stories of her great-grandchildren.

Phyllis Spearman’s social calendar is full this week.

She set the wheels in motion for a birthday party in her honor at her daughter’s house, a family luncheon Saturday afternoon, a backyard fish fry that night, and Sunday lunch at Cracker Barrel for even more fish.

Spearman, who’ll be 100 years old on Saturday, loves their rainbow trout.

Oh, and there’s the party she’s hosting for the staff and residents at the Aspen, the assisted living facility that has been her home for the past three years.

“She’s appointed herself as a greeter there,” said her daughter, Pam Womack. “When a new person comes, she likes to go to them and tell them about the place. She’s amazing. That’s the word that people say to me all the time.”

When Spearman was born nearly 36,525 days ago in Brookhaven, Calvin Coolidge was president and a new car cost about $1,000.

She will be honored Sunday at the 10 a.m. worship service at First United Methodist Church in Brookhaven, where the almost-centenarian has been a member since birth.

Her grandfather, Samuel Evans Moreton Sr., was on the building committee of the new church in 1916, and her grandmother, Zula Perkins Moreton, was a pillar of the church. 

Throughout Spearman’s life she served there in many roles, most notably as church librarian and a Sunday School teacher. She sang in the choir from the time she was in high school until she decided at 90 that her lack of stamina was stronger than her vocal abilities.

“I was married in this church, the same church where I was put on the Cradle Roll at birth,” she said in the 100th FUMC anniversary book in 2016. “I’ve been a member all my life, and so many people in the church have meant so much to me. They have been there for me in good times and in times of sorrow. The church is a family. I am so grateful for having spent a lifetime in the church.”

Spearman’s family will be celebrating with her to help “Mamaw” blow out the 100 candles on her cake. That includes Womack and her sisters Terry Spearman and Carol Kern; grandchildren Benjamin Sulser, Claire Snow, Alex Miller, Emmy Sucevik and Stephenie Santiago and great-grandchildren Eva Snow, Elbry Snow, Torin Sulser, Maudie Sulser, Rafe Sulser, Braelynn Miller, Elena Sucevik, Nina Sucevik and P.J. Santiago.

Womack said folks don’t believe her mother is nearly 100 years old.

“People who look at a picture of her say she’s in her late 70s,” she said. “She has looked beautiful her whole life. She still gets up every day and puts on her jewelry. She’s just beautiful.”

She said her mother keeps an intentional attitude of gratefulness.

“Every day, she just finds something to be thankful about. She tells God she’s thankful and He has blessed her,” she said.

Spearman echoed that during a conversation in her suite at the Aspen Tuesday.

“I certainly do feel blessed. I have enormous gratitude for every day that I’ve been given and I’ve been very fortunate in that I have had a pretty healthy life. I’m very grateful for that,” she said.

She credits her great-grandfather’s “good genes” for her longevity. He died at 90 in 1925.

“I think he passed them on to me,” she said.

A good diet, exercise, keeping her mind alert and having a strong spiritual life has also helped.

“I have learned in my long life that gratitude is just so important,” she said. “Being grateful for every good thing we have, a smile that somebody gives us, a blessing that we get when we’re feeling down. All those little things make such a difference. I am so grateful for all the wonderful people who have been in my life who have made my life better.”

Friends and supporters are encouraged to send notes and cards to Spearman at FUMC, P.O. Box 358, Brookhaven, MS 39602.