Mrs. Vicie G., was born on November 24, 1909 in Clinton, LA. She grew up in a poor rural community, without many resources. Her situation did not stop her from striving to excel and accomplish her goals to improve her life circumstance. During her early years, educational resources, for African-Americans, were very limited. She had to walk miles to school every day. As a young and eager student, Mrs. Vicie G. seized the opportunity to learn all that she could. She would be the first to get to school and help her teacher, Miss Knighten, to start the fire in the old big belly stove, dust, and sweep the floor. Her favorite subjects were geography and history and she excelled in both. In fact, until the age of 106, she could recite a ten stanza poem that she learned, as a child.
Mrs. Vicie G. shared sixty-four years of wedded bliss with her husband, Grover, until his death in 1989. From this union, seven children were born. Frances, Dorothy, Issac, Ellis, and Grover, Jr. have predeceased her. Her surviving daughters are Celeste and Ruby. She is blessed with grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren.
Throughout her life, church has been extremely important to Mrs. Vicie G. She has been a member of Beech Grove Baptist Church in Clinton, LA for over 70 years. Her husband Grover served as a deacon at the church for over 50 years. Mrs. Vicie G. was named the “Mother” of the church for being its oldest member. She regularly attended services there until eight years ago when she moved to live with her youngest daughter in Atlanta, GA.
Now, 107 years-old, Mrs. Vicie G. wished to reconnect with two of her best friends from back home in Clinton who she attended church with. Wish of a Lifetime was happy to send her friends Mary & Mae to Atlanta, GA on April 4, 2017 for a very special reunion. As her daughter Ruby said, “My mother was vocal, alert and singing…It gave my mom new life. Nothing any better than this could have happened for her.”
