Ola Mae Lamb grew up during the Depression on a farm in Madison County, Tennessee with no electricity, no phone, radio or indoor plumbing. On November 22, 2025 she joins an elite group of Memphis centenarians who have witnessed history in the fast lane. A perk of her father’s job as ticket salesman with the NC and SL railroad was the Commercial Appeal which was delivered to the station and came home to read by the family of eight. Current events were avidly discussed.
The children attended a 12-grade school and all became valedictorian or salutatorian of their classes. Ola Mae was number two in her class of 13. Her mother, a teacher and homemaker, kept watch over her six girls and two boys education. Ola Mae was the seventh child.
Her first job was with the local phone company. Party lines and “number please” did more than provide work. When the only lineman on the night shift was moved inside to work, Ola Mae met her soulmate, Bill Lamb. Six months later on June 9, 1947, they married. “I knew from the beginning that he was the one.”
Two children, Amy and Monte completed the family. Entertainment was simple: movies, music on the Peabody roof and ice cream stops. The family traveled extensively, visiting all the states except North Dakota.
In her 40’s Ola Mae attended Methodist school of nursing and for 15 years worked at Methodist Hospital. She drove alone to Chicago for many years but decided, in her 90’s, that traveling alone was too dangerous. She stopped watching her favorite sport, basketball, because it made her blood pressure go up. One thing that stays on her to-do list is voting. “It’s a priority. “ The 19th amendment was only five years old when she was born.
Her favorite childhood pastime was playing in the dirt. All her life she has maintained a flower garden and her home in Lutheran village is enviable. Friends and family say she is very competitive, especially at canasta. She attributes long life to a country diet, good genes and a gracious God.
The worst thing she remembers doing: taking a cup of sugar without permission from her mother’s kitchen to a friend’s house to make candy. “I apologized but regret it, even today.”
Obedience to God and offering friendship to everyone she meets continue to motivate her. She drives her 2002 Mercury regularly to church and for errands. The recent purchase of newer hearing aids has allowed her to enjoy conversations and sermons. “I wish I had a bolder personality so I could talk to people about the Lord.”
