A woman for all seasons

Maynard Griggs Brown, 99, has tasted a lot of life. She is a native Fayette Countian, a retired school teacher, an actress, an artist, a mother and a grandmother.

She is a guide to educating children, being a leader in her church, and her quilts are treasures. Miss Maynard can also be found delivering a sermon on Sunday mornings, and she always has the rapt attention of everyone present

She was born in the Shakerag portion of what is now Peachtree City, on Feb. 7, 1909. She was an only child but had a cousin, Walt Griggs, whose mother had died at childbirth, and they were reared together by Maynard's mother, Tippora.

She was graduated from Fayette County High School in 1929.

Ebenezer United Methodist Church has always been a touchstone in her life. In June of this year, she stood at Ebenezer United Methodist for over 25 minutes, relating her heartwarming experiences at this church, as well as being able to recall most of the ministers who had ever served here. She joined this church in 1920.

The church began as they all did in the early to mid 1800s under a brush arbor. It was vines planted to grow over a wooden arbor and congregants would sit under it.

The current minister is retired Methodist preacher, the Rev. Charles Grovenstein Sr. He has lovingly served this congregation for the past 12 years and also steps into the choir on Sunday mornings.

With the help of a son and grandson, she displayed her latest quilt on this recent Sunday morning, one depicting scenes from the Old Testament down the left side and scenes from the New Testament on the right side. It is in the loving care of son Therol and family.

Miss Maynard met Raymond Brown and they married Dec. 19, 1936. They bought an old home on 54 acres for the sum total of $500 and she still lives there. He died in July 1947, leaving her with four children to look after. Their first child, Jethro Eldred, was born in 1939 with Raymond Busey following in 1941, Sandra Brown Mote in 1943 and in 1945 twins Therol and Sherol were born. Sherol died in March 1947 and Busey in 1996. There are four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Teaching was her chosen field and she obtained a two-year teaching degree, which was all that was required at the time. She first attended Bowden Industrial College in 1930 and then went to West Georgia College for a number of summer sessions during the 1930s. The State of Georgia required all teachers to have a four-year degree in the 1950s and she spent several summers at North Georgia College in the 1950s to obtain that degree. Her children would stay with their grandmother, and cousin Walt Griggs would drive her back and forth each weekend.

Among the schools she taught at in Fayette County are: Union Grove in 1929-1937, which was located in the south central part of the county, and was a two-room school, Wynona (now Peachtree City), from 1937 to 1939, Oak Grove (now Peachtree City), 1940, Woolsey, 1947 to 1952, and Fayetteville, from 1952 to 1974, at which time she retired.

Her spare time has been spent in making over 100 quilts and an unknown number of oil paintings.

In 1976 she played the part of an Indian mother in the play "The McIntosh Trail" and enjoyed every minute. It was a project in Peachtree City to celebrate the nation's bi-centennial and the current Fred Brown Amphitheater was built at the time.

Miss Maynard has experienced all that life has to offer, good times, bad times, lean times, loss of children, the joy of being a grandmother, the heart-warming experiences at church, and being able to stand for nearly half an hour relating those experiences just a few weeks ago.

Her smile is infectious, her dress is impeccable, her sincerity is unquestioned, and her contributions to her county goes without saying.

Indeed, Miss Maynard is a woman for all seasons.

login to post comments