This woman was the matriarch of her clan. I photographed her near Sevierville, Tennessee, in 1973. I did not asked her how old she was, but she appeared to be in her mid-to-late Eighties and still going strong. She was probably born in the late 1880s of early 1890s. I marveled at how hardy she seemed to be despite her age. A life of hard work had made her strong. People don’t wear out, she said. They rust out.
