I had to comment on this wonderful story and add that his mother, Elizabeth Avery Meriwether, wrote a book about her "Recollections of 92 Years", so longevity must have run in the family. She has an official TN historical marker in honor of her being the first woman to vote (it was in the late 1800's before women were able to vote, but she owned land and pestered the local officials about taxation without representation) the marker is in Confederate Park on Front Street in Memphis. She married Minor Meriwether ( a distant cousin of my line) and there is a memorial plaque in the Peabody Hotel in Memphis that states the Minor Meriwether house once stood on that site.