Former Corbin dress shop owner celebrates 100th birthday

Lela Brooks, center, stands with family and friends during a special 100th birthday party held for her Saturday at Lynn Camp Baptist Church.

A retired schoolteacher and former owner of an upscale women’s dress shop in downtown Corbin celebrated her 100th birthday over the weekend – a milestone she celebrated with dozens of friends, family and well-wishers.

Lela Brooks could barely catch a free moment Saturday during a special celebration for her held at Lynn Camp Baptist Church. She’s been a member of the church since she was baptized at the age of 13 in 1924. She officially turned 100 Sept. 28.

"I remember being baptized in Lynn Camp Creek in a place where all the men went to bathe … I guess it was a swimming hole," Brooks said. "The Lord has been so good to me. Occasionally I meet people who aren’t Christians and I ask them about it. I know it’s not the popular thing to do today, but I don’t really mind. I think it is so important."

Brooks owes her long life to a fervent belief in God and a clean lifestyle. She said she’s "never taken a drink of whiskey" or smoked a cigarette. Shortly after being baptized, she started teaching a Sunday School class at the church – a practice she has continued to this day. She attends services at Lynn Camp Baptist every Sunday.

"I don’t know how other people who live this long do it, but I think believing and trusting in God is the greatest thing in my life," Brooks said. "I’ve lived the best I could. I’ve lived for him."

Brooks was born in Knox County in 1911 and was the youngest of six children. After a short stint in Berea for some school, she returned to Knox County to finish at Lynn Camp High School. Shortly thereafter, she married her husband, Forster Norvell and set about her life as a housewife. The couple had two sons, one of whom was injured at birth and required extra care.

When her husband, an employee of L&N Railroad, became ill, she assumed the role of sole breadwinner for the home. To make ends meet, she opened a ladies ready-to-wear shop in downtown Corbin called Norvell’s in 1940. Her husband passed away about 10 years later, but the store kept going.

"It got to be a pretty good business," Brooks said. "I think it was quite popular there for a while."

While running the store, she enrolled in Cumberland College and met her second husband Gordon Lee Brooks. The two were married in 1953. She went on to earn degrees in Education from Cumberland and Easter Kentucky University and went on to teach for 20 years in the Knox County School System.

Her second husband died in 1970. Through it all, Norvell’s persisted in downtown.

"I was always a trader. Toward the end, I wasn’t really making any money. I’d buy and sell stuff, but it wasn’t a big source of income," she said. "I don’t know why I kept it as long as I did. I think I just liked doing it."

At Saturday’s ceremony, family and friends from as far away as Cincinnati came to celebrate Brooks birthday.

"I can’t believe how far some of these people drove just to see me," she said. "It makes me feel real good. I know a lot of good people."