Quilts adorn the wall and tables in the back right corner of the Sallie Gray Senior Room at the Sim Scott Community Center, and while each one of them was made by Sallie Gray herself, not a single one belongs to her.
“She loves everybody and would do anything,” said Chanda Williams, director of programs for Columbus Parks and Recreation Department. “People would get burned out homes, and she’d give them quilts. People would donate quilt patterns and material just for her to continue to do that.”
To cap Black History Month on Tuesday at Sim Scott, Gray was the guest of honor at a celebration of her life and legacy as a community matriarch. The event was organized by Columbus Parks and Community Outreach Director Yvette Jamison.
More than 150 community members came to honor the 96-year-old Gray, who sat at the front of the room in a tall, white and bejeweled chair not unlike a throne.
Greg Lewis, director of Parks, said oftentimes people don’t get to hear the impact they’ve had on others, and that’s what the event served to do.
“Mrs. Sallie, I just want you to look out there (at the crowd) and see what a garden that you grew,” Lewis said. “… It’s only fitting that someone who’s participated in our programs for so long, we can honor her at a time when she can actually be alive and hear what people have to say about her as opposed to waiting for someone to pass away before you talk about their legacy. It’s a celebration of her life while she’s still here.”
Gray was born Sept. 27, 1926, and she worked as a nurse at the hospital for 45 years. Williams said Gray told her she remembers when Black women who were having babies had to enter the hospital through the morgue, but now they get to enter through the front door.
“Look how far we’ve come, and how much she’s seen,” Williams said.
Lewis and Williams said throughout both of their tenures with Parks and Recreation, Gray has been instrumental in getting programs started and keeping them running like quilting and community litter pick-up.
Ward 5 Councilman Stephen Jones told The Dispatch he wants the community to know the importance of celebrating everyday leaders like Gray. Jones was one in a long line of people who honored Gray with a rose and a hug.
“(We should) be blessed we have someone like this in our community because these are the matriarchs of our community,” Jones said. “This is what made us who we are today. People like her have made us who we are.”
The three-hour celebration included stories of her life and impact from community members and leaders, a choral performance, prayer, a short documentary, a panel discussion of Black women influenced by Gray and a walkthrough of the Sallie Gray Senior Room, set up with memorabilia from Gray’s life into a museum.
The panel included discussion from Nicole Clinkscales, Nadia Colom, Cindy Lawrence, Laverne Green-Leech, Glenda Richardson and Ethel Taylor Stewart. It highlighted the mark Gray has left on them, challenges they’ve faced as Black women and what the community should be focused on from the perspective of mothers.
Lawrence, Lowndes County’s emergency services director, said she “met” Gray 63 years ago as Gray was one of the nurses who helped deliver her and her twin sister, and the way she’s gone through life has left its impact on Lawrence.
“During the hard years when we had to go through back doors and you couldn’t do the things you really wanted to do and had to listen to others telling you what to do, … you endured those times,” Lawrence said to Gray. “… I think that with the legacy you’ve shown us, that you have been a woman of courage, of noble character, that you’ve been a person that has been patient, quiet and gentle-spirited. With that I say, you have endured and that has made you a strong woman today.”
Though Lewis said the museum is not a permanent fixture at Sim Scott Community Center, it will be up for “a while” so people can come visit. Williams organized the room from the kitchen to the individual tables with various themes such as family photographs, her faith in God and the Atlanta Braves.
“She loves the Braves. Win, lose or draw, that’s her team,” Williams said. “We took things from her house she had about the Braves, and there’s a picture you see of her and her sister, that’s at the nursing home where they (live) now. It was when they saw the 2021 team win the championship, and they’re at the nursing home with their hands up. Then you go over (to the next table), and you see pictures of her family.”
As she toured her museum with her granddaughter pushing her wheelchair, Gray told The Dispatch hearing and seeing the turnout for the event in her honor means so much to her.
“It was wonderful,” Gray said. “Sometimes I wonder if I did all that good stuff. I have not just my own children but a whole bunch that I have raised right here with me, and I’m real proud.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 40 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
