Moore BEN WHEELER — Avanell C. Heard Moore will celebrate her 100th birthday at Moore’s Store during a reception on Saturday.

The daughter of an insurance salesman, Moore has lived in Ben Wheeler all of her life.

When she was 19, she married M.L. Moore in 1930. Known as, J.J. (Fat Daddy) Moore, her father-in-law opened his 6,500-square-foot mercantile store in 1933. And until the store closed in 1992, Moore’s sold everything needed for day-to-day life in the country.

Shoes lined the north wall, along with a row of theater seats customers used to try on the merchandise. Horse collars hung on the back wall, along with BB guns, shotguns, .22-caliber rifles, and ammunition.

Coal oil was pumped from a metal drum behind the store, where a water well and trough supplied the teams of horses some farmers continued to use until war.

Today, Moore’s Store is a family restaurant and livemusic venue.

The building was restored and reopened in 2009 by Brooks Gremmels, co-founder of Ben Wheeler Arts & Historic District Foundation.

The reception is set for 1 to 4 p.m. Call 903-833- 5100.