GALLATIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — This weekend, nearly one hundred people are expected to attend a birthday party for a woman who is turning the same age — 100 years old.
Betty Hooper has seen a lot over the last century. "Mother, what do you feel about being 100 years old?" asked Tammy Freehling, her youngest daughter. Hooper just laughed and replied, "Hard to believe."
Betty's Chinese name is Hu Sin Hee. She was one of eight children, born and raised in Hawaii. She was a teenager, in Honolulu, on 'the day which shall live in infamy.'
"I heard this booming going on, and I thought, 'It couldn’t be thunder because it’s a beautiful day,'" Hooper recalled. "That’s when I found out the Japanese were bombing Pearl Harbor."
Hooper says the fear lasted far beyond the day of the attack. "What were you all worried about right after the attack?" asked Freehling.
"The Japanese coming back," Betty replied.
Hooper became motivated to help with the war effort, leaving high school early to join a civilian group called the Women Air Raid Defense or W.A.R.D. "Why did you want to work for the WARDs?" asked Freehling.
"Just because it was important," replied Hooper.
As a part of WARD, Betty plotted planes on a large map when she and her team spotted planes on the radar. But it was through the war effort that Betty made more of a consequential life decision — to pile into a cramped car with a group of friends and a few U.S. Sailors. "Where did you have to sit [in the car]?" asked Freehling.
"On dad’s lap!" Betty said with a huge grin.
Hall Hooper of Waverly, Tennessee, was that lucky sailor. Hal and Betty dated for a few months before Hal had to return to Nashville to finish up his medical degree at Vanderbilt University. But Betty never left his mind. The two exchanged numerous love letters. A few years later, when Betty and her sister visited the mainland, Hall proposed.
"Was he good-looking?" Freehling asked her mother. "
"Yes," Hooper replied with a megawatt smile.
The couple was smitten with each other, but both their families were not thrilled about the interracial marriage. "Dad wrote to his mother to tell her about wanting to marry mom -- and she wrote East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet," explained Priscilla Stoddard, another of Betty's daughters. "She was the first real rebel that married a white person and moved away from Hawaii."
Betty's daughters say, the families eventually softened those hard feelings, once they (their new grandchildren) all came along.
Eventually, Hal and Betty ended up in Gallatin. Hal set up a successful medical practice. Betty designed the home they lived in for more than 60 years, raised six children and poured herself into passions like painting watercolors and gardening.
"She will sit out on the patio and look at the trees above her and say, 'I planted this and I planted that and look how tall it’s gotten now,'" said Freehling.
Hal Hooper passed away in 2016, but scores of grandchildren and great-grandchildren have helped fill the void. The whole family, consisting of more than 70 people over four generations, is coming to Gallatin this weekend to celebrate her birthday.
"It’s like her living this long, she’s a treasure to us," said Freehling. "Her love is calm, gentle, rich, deep."
Do you know of a senior citizen or veteran that is about to celebrate a milestone birthday? Do they have a story that our community needs to hear? If so, you can email me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com.
This is a beautiful story of chosen family, proving a father figure doesn't have to have biology in common to make a difference in a child's life. The story of De'Andre and Alex will remind you that our relationships help determine the course of our lives. And that being supportive of someone - through a meal, a shared experience or even swim lessons can make all the difference.
- Rebecca Schleicher
