LaForge worman celebrates her 100th birthday

Lillian Glass

LaFORGE - At 100, Lillian Harber Glass speaks rarely anymore but she doesn't have to. Instead, her family and friends say, her works over the past century speak for her.

Saturday they gathered to pay tribute to the woman who served as a leader, teacher, mentor, mother and more to many in Southeast Missouri.

"She is a living example to me," said her oldest daughter, Linetta Glass Hatcher. "After all, it is not how long we live, but how we live."

Born Aug. 9, 1907, to Daniel C. and Amanda Mariah Harber, Mrs. Glass attended Arkansas State University and was a school teacher during the Great Depression. She and her husband, Clarence Glass, moved to Southeast Missouri in 1941 to farm in the LaForge area of New Madrid County, where Mrs. Glass still resides.

The couple had seven children, Linetta Glass Hatcher, Charles Glass, Pearl Glass Allen, Lewis C. Glass, Lillian Glass Hunter, Annie Glass Anthony and Augustus Glass.

Mrs. Glass was a 4-H Club leader for more than 30 years and PTA president for the six-county area while her children attended school. A member of the Mt. Olive Baptist Church, she was a Sunday school teacher and served as a state officer in the State Women's Missionary Union for 40 years.

In recognition of her efforts she received an honorary doctorate of humanities degree from Western Baptist College in the 1980s.

Although preceded in death by her husband and her sons, Charles and Lewis, Mrs. Glass's survivors in addition to five of her children also include 17 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren.

As her children spoke about her, they recalled their mother's sense of humor and her love for her family. Her daughters remembered her emphasis on propriety and determination to raise "young ladies."

These were lessons she also passed on to her grandchildren, noted one of her granddaughters, who recalled visiting the family farm during the summer. "There were just two rules: to love God and obey her," she said.

A proclamation from Sen. Rob Mayer noted the many changes Mrs. Glass witnessed over the years and Rep. Steve Hodges also read and presented a proclamation to her.