Angels unaware December 1997		Maggie Mariah McCranie Kimmons 1913-1981		Page One
Abbie Donald Evans, author [31 Aug 1934 - ]   James F. "Jim" Kimmons, son of Maggie and E.F. Kimmons     Angels are messengers. They say and do things to people.      And watch out!  There may be an angel standing beside you without your knowledge of it!   McCranie Coat of Arms               This is Maggie's Legacy     "Mama's death almost destroyed me"		Maggie MARIAH McCRANIE: Angel Unaware This  account of the life of Maggie was written by Abbie Donald Evans, son of Johnnie Blanche "Sis" McCranie.  I have written it out of my deep love for Maggie's son, Jim and her daughter, Billie Carol.  These two human beings have loved me and honored me so often with their words and actions that they are now precious to my soul. My few hours of writing this piece was also evoked by the beautiful face and life of Maggie Mariah McCranie.  The thought of her following a mule in the old McCranie fields, pulling oranges in Florida for the benefit of her little sisters or giving shots to suffering people causes me to sing her praises. In this crazy world most heroes are unsung.  This Christmas 1997, sweet Mag, I sing my song for you! To their everlasting credit, Maggie's parents, Jim [James Horton] McCranie and  Carrie Burnett [see foto top right column] named all their children after significant others whom they loved and wanted to honor.  This is in stark contrast to most modern parents who pick names for their children from books.  Just names. In retrospect it seems indisputable that, on the first day of her life, 23 August 1913, Maggie McCranie was a source of special joy to her new parents inasmuch as the young James Horton McCranie named the new baby girl after his own Mother Mariah Ryals who married  Andrew Jackson McCranie. But Carrie Burnett [Maggie's mom] also wanted their first baby to bear the name of Maggie to honor her own sister, Maggie Burnett.  That's why I say that Maggie must have been special to Jim and Carrie that day so long ago.  Moreover, Maggie was the first-born child and first-born children are almost always special to the parents. The World of 1913 When Maggie McCranie was born another Maggie was "born" into the comic strips.   "Maggie and Jiggs" appeared in the Hearst newspapers;   Jiggs was a Mason and Maggie was a washerwoman. At the same time, Helen Keller was pushing for the right of women to vote and for socialism.  In Atlanta, "Leo Frank was sentenced to death for the murder of Mary Phagan, a 13 year old pencil factory worker" [Chronicle of America, 1993].  Frank. a Jew, was eventually lynched by a mob.  Maggie's birth saw the 16th amendment pass which levied the income tax that we all know about today. Finally, in 1913 when Maggie entered the world, Woodrow Wilson was President.  When she died in 1981  Ronald Reagan was the nation's leader. In her youth, she was a member of Vilula Baptist Church where her many ancestors worshipped and are buried, including her parents and her paternal grandparents, Andrew Jackson McCranie and Mariah McDonald Ryals McCranie.  Later, when this little girl became a grown woman she lived her life very simply for many years in Eastman and later she lived at a peaceful place called "Oak Hill," and finally died as quietly as she had lived and was buried beside her beloved J.F. Kimmons at Woodlawn cemetery in Eastman, Georgia. As fate would have it, Maggie married  late in life.  She was, in fact,   33 years old before she ever met "J.F.," i.e., Jacob Felix Kimmons [1 Oct 1897 - 17 Feb 1958] a man whom she eventually came to "worship the ground he walked on"  according to Maggie's children. Continue to Maggie page 2   Maggie page 3   Maggie page 4   Maggie page 5   Maggie page 6 Return to Home Page     Page last updated 01/31/98 by the Sitemaster Abbie Donald Evans