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90^th Birthday Party at Jim’s East Serves as Fitting Prelude to Mother’s Day in May

MEMPHIS, TENN. (April 27, 2007)… About 100 of Viola Street’s family members and friends surprised her at Jim’s Place East on April 14. Well-wishers moved quickly through the crowd to say, “Happy Birthday” to the East Memphis resident who turned 90. But there’s no rocking chair in her future because she just doesn’t have the time to slow down.

“You just have to keep moving,” said Mrs. Street who lives that mantra. She volunteers at the Memphis Family Shelter on Thursdays, bringing lunch along on her visits. She also volunteers at Highland Heights Methodist Church, assisting with the food pantry outreach.

During her career days, she was a dietitian first at East High School and later at Grahamwood Elementary School for 24 years. It was at Grahamwood that she met and became lifelong friends with the school’s principal, Margaret Taylor. 

“When my husband Robert Tribble was alive, we would go to the Jim’s Place downtown in the 1950s. He was head of the Forest Hill Dairy back then,” Mrs. Street recalled proudly. “In the 1970s, after he passed away, Margaret and I would go to Jim’s East every Friday night.”

Expect Mrs. Street to return to Jim’s East on May 13 and continue her half-century tradition there. The restaurant, normally closed on Sundays, will be open for lunch to observe Mother’s Day. Check www.jimsplaceeast.com or call 388.7200, ext. 4.

The Jim’s Place Mother’s Day menu features Greek specialty entrees such as roast leg of lamb with Grecian seasonings, souflima (savory pork dish with rice) and mousaka (roasted eggplant with spiced ground beef) plus a fish and seafood lovers selection with Norwegian salmon or tilapia in lemon-oregano sauce, Low Country crawfish and shrimp, Mississippi pecan encrusted catfish and Gulf extra select oysters. Or, choose from batter dipped veal cutlet, ribeye steak and chicken Parmesan. Mother’s Day soups include gazpacho and chicken gumbo. Vegetable sides offer fresh turnip greens, creamed Idaho potatoes, mixed summer squash casserole, garden salad and spinach peta baked in phyllo pastry. There’s also a special Kid’s Menu.

Born in Parkin, Ark., Mrs. Street came to Memphis at age 7. “In those days, the area was farmland,” she reminisced. “Highland was the city limits and the neighborhood had gravel roads. We even had a cow in the back yard that I milked as a kid.” In fact, she is now living in the same Highland Heights house. As a young woman, her friend Catherine Beeson and she were voted, “Queen of the Viaduct,” referring to the Summer Avenue area near the railroad tracks. The two were recognized as outstanding young women in the community.

Today, Mrs. Street feels blessed to have a large family that includes grown children: Bobby Tribble, Barbara Waddell and Ham Tribble, six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.

“She still drives and visits me every day,” said granddaughter Angela Tribble Eubanks, also an East Memphis resident. “Grandma and I are going on an Alaskan cruise in June.”