Vera Elizabeth Parsons Jernigan of Malakoff celebrated her 90th birthday this past month. The vivacious nonagenarian is going strong both as a member of the local exercise class Fitness Plus and as a member of the ETMC Athens Auxiliary.
“I’m sure exercise helps keep me going,” said Vera, who was treated to a party by fellow Fitness Plus members.
“Vera is really a special person,” said fitness instructor Sandy Curran. “She’s been a member since we started the class in 1990.”
Jernigan was born on April 20, 1923, in Auckland, New Zealand, to two Salvation Army officers. The fifth of six children, she was orphaned rather early in life when both her mother and then her father died within two years of one another. At the age of 16, she went to work at the Auckland Post Office to support herself while rooming with her married eldest sister.
In 1942, she met James Winifred Jernigan, an American Marine from Texas who was stationed in New Zealand. The couple married in 1943 and had a daughter, Patricia, and a son, David. She sailed with the children to San Francisco in 1946.
Later that year, the family moved from California to Texas, where two more daughters, Marilyn and Ruth, were born. On July 12, 1963, Vera became a naturalized citizen of the United States.
The family moved back and forth a few times between California and Texas before Jim and Vera returned to Texas in 1979 to retire to a home in Malakoff built by Jim. A career Marine, he died in 1991, and Vera has lived there ever since.
She faithfully serves at the First United Methodist Church of Malakoff, where she sings in the choir, and as a volunteer at ETMC Athens. This May, she will receive her 25-year pin as a hospital auxiliary member.
Vera can often be found at the senior center in Malakoff having lunch and playing a friendly card game or two. Never one to be daunted by advancing technology, she keeps in touch with family across the country and in New Zealand on Skype.
She has four children, nine grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.