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Pannell is still 'feisty' at 100

By Rose Hooper
Pannell A "self-willed, feisty little woman," Ida Pannell, a resident at Ensley Adult Care Home, is 100 years old. If you visit her at Ensley's Adult Care Home, you would never imagine that Ida Pannell is 100 years old.

"She is still a self-willed, feisty little woman," said her daughter Eloise Shuler, who visits her daily.

And except for osteoporosis, the century-old woman remains in relatively good health.

Pannell is the last surviving of 11 children born to the late James and Florence Bryson Parris. She grew up on a farm on Parris Branch where her family kept a big garden and a herd of sheep. She learned to shear, card wool, spin and weave from the best. A wool suit her grandmother made by hand for her grandfather hangs in the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.

"I can remember dresses she made me by hand, sewing them up with her fingers," said Shuler, who noted her mother was also excellent at crocheting and making quilts.

She met her husband, Fred Pannell, a carpenter by trade, in church. They married in 1922 and spent 60-plus years together. Of their three children, Shuler is the only one surviving. Pannell has four grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild.

For five years the family lived in Washington, where Fred Pannell made a living logging and helped build the Grand Coulee Dam.

The couple had a strong faith and were active members of Buff Creek Baptist Church. Most of the time they walked to church - and to the store and everywhere else.

She still remembers the first car she ever saw, or rode in. It belonged to her neighbor who let her ride in it occasionally. She has also ridden in an airplane, taking off from the Bryson City airport, an experience she recalls as "scary."

Her life has been filled with lots of interests, including the world around her. Reading played an important part in her life and those skills helped make her a good student. She loved school and finished the seventh grade in a one-room school house. Shuler remembers how her mother used to read to her when she was a little girl, especially "Little Women." Pannell says her favorite book is the Bible.

"She loves to sing, too," said Shuler, a member of the Tuckaseigee Baptist Association Senior Adult Choir. "She will just break into song. One song I remember her singing to me a lot when I was a little girl is ŚLittle Rosewood Casket.'"

Until the age of 92, Pannell lived in her own home, which she kept immaculate, Shuler said of her mother. "She still did her own laundry and cooking."

In describing her mother, Shuler said, "She was strict, but she was devoted."

Shuler used to fix her mother's hair on visits to the adult care center, but lately has had to stop because her mother says the curling and brushing hurts.

"I don't think she realizes she is 100 years old," Shuler said. "Not too long ago when it was my birthday I asked her if she knew how old I was. She told me I must be 26. I laughed and told her, ŚNo, I'm 78.'"

"My goodness, Eloise," she said back to me. "You are older than I am!"

Back to Archive: 11/07/02.