Mildred Doughty, who will turn 101 next month, was honored as Franklin’s Oldest Mother on Mother’s Day.

Three of her four daughters attended the celebration. Linda Mahoney of Virginia Beach was joined by her husband, Bill; Carolyn Chio of Phoenix was joined by her husband, Wade; and Gwynn Doughty of Franklin also attended. Mildred’s oldest daughter, Elaine Burkhart of Atlanta, was unable to attend due to family commitments.

Mildred started the day attending services at High Street United Methodist Church, where her daughter, Gwynn, surprised her with a solo hymn. After having lunch at Southern Sisters in Courtland, the family returned to the Village at Woods Edge, where Mildred resides.

Mildred was greeted at the entrance with a banner proclaiming Franklin’s golden anniversary and her being named the city’s oldest mother.

The family shared cake and ginger ale.

The FKN-50 Committee recognized Mildred for one of its events to mark the 50th anniversary of Franklin becoming an independent city.

• Blackwater Nottoway Riverkeeper Jeff Turner, who had failed shoulder surgery last year, has since learned there are many who have had rotator cuff surgery — a painful procedure followed by tough therapy.

“What really surprises me is how many of these people’s surgery was either a failure, or it left them in just as much pain or just as debilitated as they were before going through the surgery,” Jeff said.

He’s thinking about putting together a support group for those who have not had good results after rotator cuff surgery. If interested, Jeff can be reached at blknotkpr@earthlink.net or 562-5173.

• Rebecca Britt Stephenson honored her late brother, Carter, during her May 8 graduation from Meredith College in Raleigh, N.C.

The daughter of Kent and Jennifer Stephenson who graduated summa cum laude, Rebecca put Carter’s name on her cap for the ceremony.

Carter, who was 14, and two other Boy Scouts with Franklin Troop 17 — 13-year-old Jackson Fox and 12-year-old Luke Drewry — and assistant scoutmaster John Oliver, 43, were killed in a car crash along Virginia Route 35 in Sebrell on Nov. 5, 2006. They were coming home from a Boy Scout retreat in Blackstone.

A 2007 graduate of Franklin High School, Rebecca received a bachelor of arts in history with a license to teach kindergarten through sixth grade.

• Emily May Kennedy will be autographing her new book from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 24, at Troxler Memorial Library, 100 Wilson Ave., Wakefield.

A resident of Dendron, Kennedy’s Christian fiction novel is entitled “Shipwrecked but Saved.”

When two small families headed to a mission field become shipwrecked on a remote island, their lives are changed forever. Feeling as though they’d been hindered from fulfilling God’s will for their lives, they resigned themselves to find a way to leave.

But when they began to meet the island’s inhabitants, they knew God brought them exactly where they needed to be.