Woman Officially Celebrates 100th Birthday

By Rachel Gallaher
Weekend Edition Producer
Published: December 29, 2008

    A woman we told you about earlier this week officially celebrated her 100th birthday today.
    Smithie Haddock spent the day with friends and family at her church.
    She received congratulations from Congressman Walter B. Jones, Governor Mike Easley and President Bush for the occasion.
    Haddock was born on Christmas day in 1908.
    She celebrated her birthday today at the Hookerton United Methodist Church.
    Her pastor, Claude Nethercutt, says she’s the church’s oldest living member and that a lot of people grew up with her.
“Knowing that she loved her church this much and her family loves her, when I realized along with others that her hundredth birthday was coming up, I began to talk to people and make the plans, the church did, to make her celebrate that birthday.“
    Haddock spent most of her life in the east.
    She has three children, eight grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren.