Lewis MacDonald Grizzard - (1946-1994)
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By Lionel HolmesI. Biography Grizzard was born on October 20, 1946 to Christine Word Grizzard, a
schoolteacher, and Lewis M. Grizzard, Sr., a soldier, in Fort Benning, Georgia. Soon the family moved to Moreland, very small town about an hour or so southwest of Atlanta. Lewis' parents divorced when he was
quite young, and he spent much of his youth being raised by Christine and his maternal grandmother, "Mama" Willie Word. Grizzard attended Newman High School in nearby Newman, Georgia, and the University of
Georgia in Athens. He did not, however, finish his degree immediately, for left UGA sometime after his junior year to work at a newspaper. Eventually, though, he did return
years later to make up the credits he needed. He made the daily trek from Moreland to Newman High School and the packed his suitcase for Athens and the University of
Georgia. When he became a syndicated columnist and the author of several books of Southern humor, his best work often reflected on the Moreland of his childhood.
Grizzard spent his childhood there, enjoying the camaraderie of Cureton-Cole Store, learning his multiplication tables at Moreland School and attending Sunday School at
Moreland Methodist Church. The warmth of the small Southern town remained a part of his life as Grizzard grew form boy to man. In life, Lewis MacDonald Grizzard, Jr. was a
nationally-syndicated humor columnist based at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. His unique brand of down-home honesty and Southern humor endeared and inspired readers
across the country. Grizzard was also an aspiring country music songwriter and singer, and was very popular on the speaking circuit. Grizzard worked as a reporter for the Red and Black, the newspaper of the University of
Georgia, when he was a student. He also wrote and worked for major newspapers in Athens, Atlanta, and Chicago as a sports writer, later sports editor, before finally settling
back at the AJC to become a columnist. He lived and wrote in Atlanta during this time, cranking out about three columns a week on his trusty Royal manual.
Grizzard went home on March 20, 1994 after a long bout of infections and complications arising from heart surgery. You see, Grizzard lived all his life with a faulty heart valve, and
had to have a few surgeries to correct it. Just when it seemed he was going to recover from a short coma, his condition grew worse and he passed away. Two of his most famous books are
Elvis is Dead and I Don't Feel So Good Myself and Kathy Sue Loudermilk, I Love You. II. Sources
This essay was submitted by a student of Debbie Wooten, a teacher at Bacon County High School in Alma, Georgia.