<BillNo> <Sponsor>
HOUSE JOINT RESOLUTION 57
By Howell
HJR0057
001835
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A RESOLUTION to honor and congratulate Jessie Lee Coppock
on the celebration of her 104
th
birthday.
WHEREAS, it is fitting that we pay tribute to those citizens who are celebrating special
occasions in their estimable lives; and
WHEREAS, Jessie Lee Coppock will celebrate her 104
th
birthday on March 7, 2025, a
milestone that will be commemorated as yet another precious souvenir of life's rich pageant;
and
WHEREAS, Ms. Coppock was born on March 7, 1921, in Crawford County, and she has
enjoyed an amazing life and experienced firsthand the breadth and span of American history;
and
WHEREAS, the second of thirteen children born to Robert Lee Gulledge and Olvie
Elizabeth Harris Gulledge, Jessie Coppock relocated with her family to Conasauga in Polk
County, where her father sought employment and worked as a sharecropper and in sawmills to
make ends meet; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Coppock has recalled many of the hardships her family endured in
order to survive, such as eating cornmeal gravy made with water until the wheat grain was
ready for harvest and saving eggs to trade for coffee and other necessary items from the rolling
store, which came by once a week; and
WHEREAS, her family often crossed a frozen Conasauga River by wagon in the
wintertime and walked when road conditions became too muddy for the wagon wheels; she also
went to school in a covered wagon, taking her milk in an old vanilla flavoring bottle and carrying
her food in a metal bucket; and
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WHEREAS, Jessie Coppock and her family stored vegetables underground to prevent
them from freezing and made what was known as "leather britches," green beans strung up with
thread to dry; at times, breakfast consisted of only cooked corn, but her father ensured they
never went to bed hungry; and
WHEREAS, the children normally helped with housework, among other farming jobs,
including cutting sugarcane and loading the wagon; washing laundry by the river and hanging
the clothes on shrubs to dry; and picking cotton and loading it into the gin, a job that proved to
be quite dangerous, if they were not careful; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Coppock would help her mother make lye soap from fireplace ashes,
can green beans by boiling them in the wash tub, salt and sugar cure the hog meat, and milk
the cows to clabber and churn buttermilk and butter; and
WHEREAS, at the age of six, Jessie Coppock was required to walk a quarter mile to the
barn to feed and harness the mules for work in the fields; she would then return home and
prepare breakfast alongside her older sister, using homemade stools to reach the top of the
wood stove; and
WHEREAS, despite many hardships, Ms. Coppock, her family, and other neighborhood
children found joy in the small things and always made time to play and enjoy one another's
company; after the Conasauga River Bridge was completed, Conasauga residents gathered at
the edge of the bridge to celebrate, with people praying, singing songs, and worshipping; and
WHEREAS, as Jessie Coppock enters her 104
th
year, she is truly revered for her
perseverance and her dedication to her family and faith; and
WHEREAS, we wish to grasp this golden opportunity to specially recognize one of
Tennessee's most outstanding citizens on this very special occasion; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE HUNDRED
FOURTEENTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE, THE SENATE
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CONCURRING, that we recognize and honor Jessie Lee Coppock on the celebration of her
104
th
birthday and extend to her our best wishes for many happy returns of the day.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that an appropriate copy of this resolution be prepared
for presentation with this final clause omitted from such copy and upon proper request made to
the appropriate clerk, the language appearing immediately following the State seal appear
without House or Senate designation.