First thing in the morning, she thanks God for letting her see another day, takes her medication, has some coffee and looks forward to being with family.
She likes doing word puzzles. Tuning in to “Judge Judy.” Her favorite pro hoops team is the Golden State Warriors, but given they’re not in this year’s NBA Finals, she’s rooting for the New York Knicks.
Oh, and as of June 7, Johnnie M. Jenkins, widely known as “Mother Jenkins,” is 103 — a woman so beloved by her family and the Cocoa community, they throw a “Drive By and Wave” parade for her every year.
The 2026 party for this human manifestation of the phrase “small but mighty” came on a sunny Sunday night. First, the parade was staged at Zion Orthodox Primitive Baptist Church. Then, up to 200 people in 70-plus vehicles, including Cocoa and Rockledge police cruisers, motorcycles and vintage cars, rolled down Carissa Avenue in front of her home.
Horns honked, music blared, light flashed and waves fluttered as Jenkins, surrounded by family, smiled, called and waved from her chair in a Hawaiian-style setting.
Her family started throwing these parties in 2021, keeping them wheeling through the COVID-19 pandemic and deciding to make it an annual event for all who want to walk up or drive by.
“I always tell them that they don’t have to do it, but they do,” said Jenkins, who is showered with hugs, flowers and more hugs as she holds court from the driveway.
“But once I found out they were doing it again … yes. I was looking forward to it. It’s a blessing to have lived to be 103 years old and have people come by and celebrate with me. To God be the glory.”
For granddaughter Pam Hooks, there’s nothing better than seeing the community turn out to honor her grandmother, shouting greetings or blowing kisses as they slow down.
What is it about Mother Jenkins that elicits such big love from family, friends and perfect strangers?
“It’s her calm, caring nature, that’s come from her relationship with the Lord, her spiritual foundation,” Hooks said.
“It’s always been about serving God and serving people for her. She truly believes that if you do good, good will come back to you. It’s just a blessing to us as her family to see her be able to reap all of what she’s given to others.”
Rockledge councilman Michael Cadore said he and his wife, Cornelia, chose to stand on the sidelines rather than ride in the parade, “simply to soak in the beautiful, genuine outpouring of love for her.”
Jenkins is more than an icon, Cadore said: She is a blueprint for love and service.
“To reach 103 years of age, by God’s grace, is to stand as a living monument of wisdom, faith, and history,” he said.
“While it was an honor to present her with flowers, hearing her lovingly call my wife her ‘love’ was a true testament to the affection she pours into everyone she encounters … As Cornelia says, and I agree, she exemplifies divine preservation, and we are all eternally blessed to have her.”
A lifetime of changes for a much-loved woman
It’s like watching and listening to a History Channel documentary as Jenkins talks about growing up in Brevard County. She moved here from Bainbridge, Georgia, with family, at age 13. Her family first lived on Merritt Island, winding up in Cocoa, and going from a “frame house to a brick house” between 1923 and 2023. She recalls having to walk across a wooden bridge when the family lived on Merritt Island and “beating the mosquitoes away” with palmettos.
Jenkins has watched the world around her evolve in ways she couldn’t have imagined as a child. One of her happiest history-related memories was forged when Barack Obama was elected and took his place for two terms in the Oval Office.
“Being able to vote and being able to see a Black president … just being able to see that change, from what I used to see, it was special,” she said.
Her favorite-ever gift takes the shape of her descendants, who are a constant in her life.
“I’d have to say my family,’ she said. “We are five generations … I had eight children. Thirteen grandchildren; a host of great-grands. Yes, family. That’s it for me.”
And that family extends to the folks at Great St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church in Cocoa, where Pastor David Bryant and other congregation members are dear as can be to her.
“They’ve been very dedicated to me and I love my church family to the highest,” Jenkins said. “And Cocoa … I was rooted in Cocoa and I love it. I love the weather … I don’t love the hurricanes, of course, but other than that, Cocoa is wonderful.”
Cocoa loves her, too.
Mayor Mike Blake praises the innate kindness and strength of a God-fearing woman, one who is not only the mother of her family and her church but is also a true “matriarch of the city.”
“If you look at the setting of the environment she grew up in, it was quite challenging,” he said. “She’s gone from segregation to integration to motivation, a woman who’s been instrumental in the community, always assisting others … treat others as you’d want them to treat you. That’s the mantra she’s lived by.”
Her 103rd now behind her and the NBA Finals champion yet to be decided, Mother Jenkins lives that fabled best life every day and thanks her maker for the chance to do it.
Her secret to a long, happy life centers on gifts of a very different kind, those you can’t wrap up in a box but which, if you’re lucky, are plentiful.
“Grace and mercy,” she said emphatically.
“God has kept me and my family and friends. They have all been a blessing. That’s my secret — loving people.”
Britt Kennerly is education/breaking news/Style editor at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Kennerly at 321-917-4744 or bkennerly@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @bybrittkennerly Facebook: /bybrittkennerly
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This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Cocoa woman, 103, floats in joy as her community throws a birthday parade
Reporting by Britt Kennerly, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Britt Kennerly, Florida Today | USA TODAY Network
