'An Inspiration': Mt. Juliet community pillar, first female mayor Jenny Bess Hibbett dies

She was Mt. Juliet's first female mayor, had an educational career that spanned more than 50 years and is credited with helping to shape the city as a local politician, educator and church member.

Jenny Bess Hibbett also spent years serving as a city commissioner and helped launch Mt. Juliet Christian Academy before her death at 86 on Oct. 28, city officials pointed out.

“She really has been an inspiration for a lot of people,” Mt. Juliet Mayor James Maness said. “I don’t know that I ever found a person who said a negative word about her. I think that says something for someone who has done all she has done.”

Born in Liberty, Tennessee, Hibbett was a graduate of Tennessee Tech University and later earned a Master's degree from Peabody College. She began her 54-year teaching career in the Metro Nashville area, according to her obituary.

In 1961, Hibbett founded the Mt. Juliet First Baptist Church Kindergarten and Preschool program, which later evolved into Mt. Juliet Christian Academy. She was a longtime member of First Baptist Church Mt. Juliet, where she taught for years as a special needs Sunday School teacher, her obituary noted.

Hibbett’s husband, Neland Carver “N.C.” Hibbett, died in 2013 and was notable for serving as Mt. Juliet’s first mayor in 1973, after the city incorporated the previous year.

Jenny Bess Hibbett served as a Mt. Juliet commissioner before becoming mayor in 1979, according to the city.

Mt. Juliet is actively seeking ways memorialize Jenny Bess Hibbett's name, Maness said.

Hibbett Hall is already part of the city's community center at Charlie Daniels Park, named after the family donated an elaborate train collection depicting an area of the city created by N.C. Hibbett.

Mt. Juliet City Commissioner Ray Justice said he got to know Hibbett as a young child riding a bus to First Baptist Mt. Juliet. Justice later worked with Jenny Bess Hibbett on city projects such as the redesign of Charlie Daniels Park in the 1990s.

"An icon," Justice said. "Her gift to Mt. Juliet was her life. And her family’s gift to our city is their lives. There is no way to pay the debt we owe that family for what they helped us create."

In addition to her public service work, Hibbett was also a member of several organizations and was on the Vol State Community College Board of Trustees.

She is survived by sons Robert (Kelly) Hibbett, John (Susan) Hibbett and Thomas (Linda Fay) Hibbett, five grandchildren and one great grandchild, her obituary said.

N.C. and Jenny Bess Hibbett "helped pave the way for what the city would become, but I never heard them brag or boast in these accomplishments" grandson Carver Hibbett said earlier this year after Hibbett Hall opened.

"(Their) love and pride was in their family, their neighbors and their community."

Funeral services for Jenny Bess Hibbett were held Wednesday at Victory Baptist Church.

Reach Andy Humbles at ahumbles@tennessean.com or 615-726-5939 and on X, formerly known as Twitter @ AndyHumbles.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Middle Tennessee woman remembered as Mt. Juliet pioneer, educator