Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 21, 1990 TAG: 9003212311
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Mark Morrison Staff Writer
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Willard Scott read her name on the "Today" show and flashed her photograph on television screens across the country.
"She's a party girl and says Spuds McKenzie is her favorite dog," the weatherman said.
So what if he didn't get it quite right.
The birthday girl's son, Ranis Compton, had written "Today" and said that his mother liked people, parties and dogs. Scott ad-libbed the rest.
"She doesn't even know who Spuds McKenzie is," Compton said.
But Harriett Compton, 102, didn't care. She just liked the idea of being on television.
That was last year, when she turned 101.
This year, Compton had a party instead and her son didn't bother writing Scott.
He took her to Thalhimers at Valley View Mall, as he does every day, where the staff and any shoppers who happened to be wandering through the store Tuesday afternoon threw her a big birthday party.
She ate cake, sang "Happy Birthday," chatted with well-wishers and beamed her bright smile. It was better than Willard, she said.
"Boy, we really had a day here today, didn't we?" she said to her son afterwards.
Ranis Compton, 65, has been bringing his mother to Valley View Mall on weekdays for several years now to shop, socialize and roll through the stores in her wheelchair.
At Thalhimers, she has become a fixture of the store's Tuesday Club, an age 55-and-up discount group, of which she is the oldest member.
"We recognize her as a member of our family," said Tim Hartzog, operations manager for Thalhimers.
Store employees suggested throwing Compton the party and Hartzog said management agreed it was a great idea. They had never celebrated a customer's birthday before.
"She's a wonderful lady," said store manager John Hering. "And I see her as frequently as some of the sales people, so why not?"
Born outside Lebanon in 1888, when Grover Cleveland was president, Harriett Huffman married Lee Compton, a farmer from Mill Creek.
They lived there about 10 years before moving to Roanoke and then Rocky Mount, where they operated a dairy farm.
Lee Compton also owned Compton Truck Lines, which he eventually sold to Wilson Trucking Co. Their dairy farm is now a subdivision.
They raised Ranis Compton and three daughters, Elizabeth Vincent, 71, of Roanoke; Carolyn Rennie, 67, who lives in Florida; and Trula Kiser, who died at 63, about six years ago.
Lee Compton died 20 years ago at 78, and Harriett Compton has been living with their son in the Round Hill area of Northwest Roanoke since.
She doesn't remember much about the past.
"You can't ask her to remember something," Ranis Compton said. "She has to come up with things on her own before she can tell you about them."
She doesn't always get the present straight either.
"Sometimes she gets confused and gets her cane and sits by the back door ready to go to the mall right after breakfast," her son said.
Normally, they cruise Valley View in the early afternoons. Her son believes the daily trips have helped her live longer.
"It keeps her more alert," he said. "She gets so much pleasure out of seeing and talking to people."
And what does she think is the secret to longevity?
"It's being happy and doing nice things for people and yourself, too," she said.
by CNB