1913-1981
Fotos in right column:
Andrew Hodge McCranie [24 Aug 1915-1981]
John Kingsbury McCranie [1 Nov 1923 -]
Lela Carolyn McCranie Hall [13 Nov 1926-29 May 1982]
Molly Idena McCranie McGlohon [5 Aug 1919-27 Jun 1965] and husband, Albert [4 Aug 1904-14 Apr 1976]
Dora Elizabeth "Betty" McCranie Myers [11 Jan 1933-
ALTRUISM is the word for Maggie
Johnnie Blanche "Sis" McCranie [28 May 1907 - Nov 1996]
Foto in right column: Abbie Daniel McCranie [10 Nov 1913 - 5 Dec 1966]
Maggie gave cups of water to "the least of these."
ANGELIC DEEDS OF
A PLAIN FARM GIRL
In Maggie's family of orientation, there were four younger sisters Molly, Carolyn, Erlene, Betty and also two younger brothers, Andrew Hodge and John K. McCranie.
Now favorable circumstances permitted Maggie's brother Andrew to be able to finish Rhine High School and then to study briefly at ABAC [Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College].
But a greater responsibility challenged the first-born and required her to drop out of the eleventh grade without getting the coveted high school diploma.
For one thing there was the increasing illness and debilitation of her mother, Carrie, that required Maggie to seek work in order to help support her younger siblings. Today, "Both Erlene and Betty agree that it was Maggie who had to raise them once their mother Carrie because ill" [jfk].
Maggie's baby sister, Elizabeth "Betty" McCranie Myers provided the following information on December 18, 1997:
My mother's health failed the month that I was born and Mag stepped in to love and care for her little sisters.
Giving up some of the best years of her life, making trip after trip to Florida to work and make money to send back home.
I have always loved and appreciated her for caring. She always looked for the best in others and gave the best she had.
In this same vein, Maggie's son repeats what he learned all his life about his mama and her sacrifice for her siblings:
Mama was the oldest in her family and as a result would go to Florida to her Aunt Eva Mae's and work during the months that she was out of school and send the money back to help support the younger children.
You see mama has always sacrificed for others. Instead of having a good time as most children would do with the money they earned, mama saved the money, bought cloth and clothing for her younger sisters and sent [those items] home to them.
And so it was that life bore down hard on the pretty young McCranie girl. Alas, it was my old friend, Buddha who once said that "All of life is sorrowful." Well, young Maggie would not escape her share of pain and hardship that life seems hell-bent to heap upon us. Like her cousin Sis, and many other people in this world, Maggie had a "first love" in Florida that failed during the days that she labored in the orange groves for her little sisters. Happiness, as we all know, sometimes slips away into the night.
According to her baby sister, Elizabeth "Betty" McCranie, Maggie worked the orange groves with her first cousin [on Carrie's side], Julie Bell.
Maggie would not spend her money for herself, but spent it on her little sisters back home. My sisters and I would show Maggie a dress in a catalog and she would make it for us.
Maggie's first love in Florida did not work out and
"The information that I was able to gather on this matter was that it crushed my mama. She suffered from extreme depression at an early age. However, she was able to pull herself back together and continue earning the money that was so badly needed back home.
I have had conversations with various family members throughout the years, i.e., A.D., Buck Jack McKavitt, Aunt Betty, etc., and they told me how hard mama worked to support her younger sisters and Grandpa.
My mother plowed mules to help Pa with his crops [source: JFK] .
One of Maggie's siblings put it this way, "Maggie actually raised two families: her sisters and then her own two children." Carolyn [AKA "Coot"] married Clarence Hall, Jr. but they divorced and it was Maggie who raised their son, John Carol Hall for three years. Eventually Carolyn married Johnny Hall [not related to Clarence] and Carolyn at that point took her son, John Carol, to North Carolina where they would live.
In December 1997, Maggie's son JFK [James Felix Kimmons] described his loving and selfless mother in the passage below. Note the diverse ways that Maggie helped other people.
My mother was very good to my little sister and myself. Daddy was gone a lot during the week. Mama would read to us every day, tell us fairy tales, take us to see Pa [James Horton] in the [McCranie] Lane and taught us to love our aunts, uncles, cousins and especially Grandpa.
My mama worshipped the ground Pa walked on. She used to drive for him when he was in the Ga. Senate.
I can also remember when I was a child that Pa was always doing genealogical research...going to various grave yards, court houses and writing letters to people as far away as California concerning his research and history. Mama would drive him all over the place and write the letters for him.
This precious woman did good for others without the blowing of loud trumpets. For example, she often took in my uncle A.D. McCranie when he seemed down and out. She fed and housed him in contrast to my own dad's lack of readiness to help "D."
This Christmas, as I miss "D" and Maggie I shout to heaven, to God and angels alike, "Thanks Maggie for helping 'D'" because I loved him with all my heart. You, Maggie, stepped in for "D" when many, yea, most did not. And there were others you helped that are unknown to me. In that context, I hope the Great Father will kiss your worthy brow for what you did for so many small people.
Maggie helped the unpopular, the poor, the unattractive, the no-bodies, the "least" among us. Did you ever hear of someone else doing that two thousand years ago? Right on, Maggie! Like the Savior before you, you were no respector of persons.
Maggies life touched so many. Her heart reached out in countless ways. . .She had a knowledge of life and love not found in books but in the heart.
My sister waited on sick people. She waited on John B. Williams' mama and on Welmon McCranie's mama, Sallie, and Jim Brophy. She waited on J.F. as he was dying of cancer in Eastman.
She gave shots to sick people and was taught by Dr. Snow in Cochran to do that [sister Betty].
Don't forget . . .how great Aunt Mag was whenever anyone in the community was sick. She would go and stay in their home and nurse them back to health no matter how long it took!!! She knew all there was to know about being a nurse. She would have the best bed side manner of anyone.
we as children can remember this [the above] about her. When we were sick at school we would call Mama [Erlene] and she would pick up up because she had to go back to work. She would take us to Aunt Mag's and we would receive the best tender loving care you can imagine.
Because there were four of us, we loved that special one-on-one attention Aunt Mag would give us and all the petting that came along with it!! We all loved her. She was a very special aunt whom we will never forget.
Mama [Erlene] said Maggie won a trophy for her skills as a basketball player at Sandgrove [school]. [Debra W. Strom in behalf of her mom, Erlene M. Williams]
"If you give a cup of water to the least of these, you give it to me"...Jesus
