Eleanor Mae Whitfield

Life Story

A Life Well Lived

Eleanor Mae Whitfield was born on a cool spring morning in rural Maury County, Tennessee, the third of seven children born to Thomas and Ruth Ann Caldwell. She grew up in a farmhouse without electricity until she was twelve, learning to read by oil lamp and to cook on a wood-burning stove. Her mother called her 'the steady one.' Her father called her 'the one who would outlast us all.' Both were right.

She married Harold James Whitfield in June of 1954 at the First Baptist Church of Columbia, Tennessee. They were married for sixty-three years. She raised four children, taught Sunday school for four decades, and never once let a neighbor go hungry. Her garden was legendary in three counties. Her laugh was louder than her voice.