BRADY FLANIGANStaff Writer

Some people believe if you’re born on Election Day, somebody, something, elected you. Tuesday, November 5 was Irma Troxler’s 102^nd birthday.

Born in Nashville, raised in Wartrace, Irma’s story in Tullahoma goes at least as far back as the war. In 1944 she worked in the personnel office at Camp Forrest’s POW camp, where they held German soldiers. She saw a one-horse town with a few dusty roads transform overnight into a boomtown loaded with young men in uniforms either getting home from Europe or waiting to go. She saw businesses rise and fall. She saw elephants march down the streets and the circus come to town. 

Since 2019 Irma has been spending her time at Morning Pointe Senior Living on the eastside of the tracks. This week Tullahoma appeared in full force to add another candle to a big cake–big because of the number of visitors and big because of the number of candles.

For Irma’s 102^nd, both Coffee County Mayor Dennis Hunt and Tullahoma City Mayor Lynn Sebourn appeared at Morning Pointe to honor her. Mayor Sebourn brought with him a certificate of recognition stating: “On behalf of the 20,339 citizens that call Tullahoma home and by the authority vested in me as mayor of Tullahoma I, now, therefore proclaim Tuesday, November 5, 2024, Irma Troxler Day.”

When Irma isn’t being surprised by her friends appearing with a cake the size of a football field, she enjoys spending her time acting as a charter member of Kings Cross Church. For her birthday, Irma kept things how she likes it: a slice of her favorite pizza from Gondola shared with her two daughters, and a room filled with friends and family who’ve known her throughout the years. It wasn’t the cake, the certificate, or even the mayors’ presence that made her day—it was the people gathered around her, each one a piece of the story she’s been writing since her early days in Tullahoma.

At 102, Irma has no signs of slowing down, still finding joy in little things—a bingo game, a scenic drive, a quick trip to Walmart. Here’s to Irma Troxler, a woman whose simple pleasures are as timeless as the town she’s helped shape.