Ola Williams Hendren, who died Thursday at the age of 94, was truly a legend in her own time. She leaves behind a multitude of friends, many of them half her age or younger.

 Mrs. Hendren, who always wore a red hat, taught school in Jonesville or Elkin for three decades and was one of those individuals other people looked forward to being around.

Running up with her unexpectedly downtown was a pleasure to be long remembered.

She had that rare ability to lift your spirit a little higher even when it was already elevated.

You could always depend on her to come up with a solution to your latest dilemma and to make you laugh at the same time.

Mrs. Hendren’s teaching years were mostly spent at Jonesville High School where she was long-time home economics instructor and confidant to all who needed a shoulder to cry on, both students and teachers. She was a whiz in raising money for school projects and inspiring her students to prepare a scrumptious meal for lucky ones, including friends and friendly teachers, to come to the home economics room and test.

When Jonesville High School was consolidated with West Yadkin and Boonville high schools to form Starmount High, there could be only one home economics teacher at the new school and Mrs. Hendren volunteered to let a younger teacher from Boonville fill the position while she elected to devote her remaining career in education to teaching in the elementary grades.

Mrs. Hendren and her late sister grew up in their beloved Mountain Park, the daughters of the Mr. and Mrs. Willie Byrd Williams, who operated a big farm along the Mitchell River.

Ola and her husband, Lin, made the Williams farm their weekend getaway destination and enjoyed many wonderful hours witnessing animals, flowers, rocks and arrowheads in the wild along the river and nearby mountains.

In their basement could be seen ancient evidence of the time millions of years ago when the Mitchell cascaded at a much higher level than it does now.

For 30 years, Mrs. Hendren’s husband served as U.S. postmaster at Elkin, having been suggested by Thurmond Chatham and appointed by the President.

In her retirement years, and after Lin’s death, Mrs. Hendren spent a lot of time planning for the day when she would also pass away. She gave her husband’s collections, including beautiful North Carolina petrified wood, to friends or museums. Perhaps her biggest gift was the Williams Farm land which she presented to the state conservancy group with the guarantee that it would forever be preserved in its natural state for benefit of future generations.

A staunch Presbyterian and a member of the Elkin Presbyterian Church, Mrs. Hendren spent more and more time on her farm after Lin died, but for many years came to her house in town nearly every day to feed her cat Tom-Boy (her sister’s dogs at the farm didn’t like cats). While in town, she picked up her mail and ate lunch—often at Royall’s, and always, on the third Wednesday each month, with the Jonesville Retired Teachers.

When her health began to decline, she moved in with Jackie Howard, who became her caregiver, and enjoyed attending Mount Pleasant Church at State Road with the Howard family. Mrs. Howard described Mrs. Hendren as “a wonderful Christian.”

Mrs. Hendren, whose close relatives predeceased her, is survived by her best friend, her beloved Tom-Boy, who was her constant companion in her final year at the Chatham nursing facility.

-- Charles Mathis, Jonesville