During his final State of the University Address today, East Tennessee State University President Dr. Paul E. Stanton, Jr., proclaimed Aug. 26 as Besse Cooper Day.
The announcement came on the same day Cooper turns 115 years old. An ETSU alumna, she is the oldest living person in the world and currently resides in Monroe, Ga.
Cooper graduated from what was then East Tennessee State Normal School, which opened in 1911 with the mission to train teachers. Becoming a teacher had been her dream, and the creation of the school by the Tennessee General Assembly opened the door for making that happen. She took a train from her home in Gray Station to Johnson City where she lived with an aunt. From there she rode a trolley car to campus.
After graduation, she taught at a school in Tiger Valley before moving to Georgia in 1918 to seek a better paying job. Though she has lived in Georgia ever since, her fondness for East Tennessee State Normal School remains. Her admiration for the normal school’s first president, Sidney G. Gilbreath, inspired her to name a son after him, and she wore her class ring for 92 years until the day it had to be cut off her finger to prevent any loss of circulation in her hand.
That ring is now on display in Stanton’s office at ETSU.
Cooper earned the distinction as the world’s oldest living person on Jan. 31, 2011.
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