She was the daughter of a circuit judge, the wife of a Fayetteville businessman, the mother of a banker, an organizer of the Margaret Mitchell Library, and a devoted daughter of the South.

Lucy Mariah Reagan Redwine was born in 1889 in McDonough, and came to live in Fayetteville when she married Hill Parks Redwine in 1913.

A graduate of Agnes Scott College, she was interested in education and in community affairs. Preserving local history of not only the area but her family kept her busy when her two daughters and a son were grown.

She knew of her mother’s long interest in the Georgia Division of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. As a young girl she belonged to the chapter her mother, Lucy Mariah Lyon Reagan, had helped to organize, the Charles T. Zachary Chapter in McDonough.

As a resident of Fayetteville, she belonged to Fayetteville chapter, and when it disbanded she joined the Frankie Lyle Chapter in Jonesboro in 1948.

In the Georgia Division she held many offices and chairmanships. She served as auditor, second vice president and First Vice President in 1949 to 1951.

Her mother was elected Honorary President of the Georgia Division for her work on its behalf in 1924 and just 16 years later, Miss Lucy was elected as Honorary President of the Georgia Division in 1940.

In 1929 Miss Lucy put together several like-minded ladies and started a library for the children and adults of the town. Several times a location was burned and they had to start all over again. It was not unusual for the “library” to be operated out of her living room.

After years of selling items at bazaars held on the courthouse lawn, enough money was acquired to purchase the small patch of land at the corner of Lee Street and Johnson Avenue. They paid $700 for the lot, and proceeded to build the small white building there, now used by the Fayette County Historical Society. She was a charter member of the society.

Famed author Margaret Mitchell, who had blood ties to Fayette County, was asked if they could name the new library for her, and she gave that permission. Mitchell also donated a large number of books.

Not content with seeing that children had books to read, she also wrote several booklets on such topics as the history of the Redwines in Georgia, and one summer she visited many of the families in the county to write down their genealogy.

The historical society considers this genealogy of 100 native Fayette Countians an important addition to its archives.

She was a faithful member of the Fayetteville First United Methodist Church which is located right across the street. Her home now serves as the office for the church.

This past month at the 113th Georgia Division Annual Convention, held at Peachtree City, a UDC member’s marker was placed and dedicated at Miss Lucy’s gravesite at the Fayetteville City Cemetery.

Unveiling of the marker was done by her son, Hill Reagan “Sonny” Redwine, and a grandson, H. Parks Redwine.

Miss Lucy died in May, 1976 and entered into the 1976 minutes of the Georgia Division are the words “We miss Lucy Redwine, but she would not have us grieve. She would, we think, leave us a legacy expressed in the words of John Greenleaf Whittier … Lives on to fill the heavenly atmosphere with [her] immortal song.”

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