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Suzanne Gary Shares Her Joy In Life Through Her Work With Young ChildrenBy MARTHA NORRIS Staff ReporterIW ELLENTON fit tea almost 50 years rfter she was marriedAt azannetune teller reading tea leaves that her “cup was full of children.”“I told her ‘You better keep r.hem in there, I wasn’t preg-cameMrs. Gary laughed. “But maybe she saw something,” she added, more seriously. “I’vebeen working with childrenever since.”Mrs. Gary has been working with the Aiken County school district for the past 18 years, since returning to New Ellen-ton in 1966 from New York City, where her late husband of 45 years, singer Sam Gary, was enjoying a successful recording and entertaining career.“He wanted to stay in New York because it’s such a melting pot,” Mrs. Gary said. “The week I came South, he was supposed to make a movie soundtrack. He told me ‘I can’t go, they’re making this movie in Central Park,’ mentioning Frank Sinatra. I said ‘Sam, Ican’t wait.’Taking a leave of absenceriage proposal — from a five-year-old.“He told me that if I wasn’tblack and so old, he’d marry me,” Mrs. Gary laughed. “But he said he loved me anyhow. That’s okay with me. If you want the truth, go to a youngster!”Through her work with children as a teacher and clients as a social worker, Mrs. Gary learned of the need that sparked the idea for the food basket project she organized six years ago. Her husband used to help her with the annual project before his tragic death tnis summer in a fire at their home.“He would bring canned goods to church on Friday night, pack all day Saturday and then go deliver them. Hewas a verv helDful man.” Mrs.becoming auiet.In 1940 her husband joined black guitarist and folk singer Josh White for a concert tour that launched the duo’s 25 year singing and touring career, a career that took them all over the world. According to an editorial written after his death this past summer, Mr. Gary was well-known in musical circles in New York, and considered by Oscar Brand, curatorrom her job in the Welfare Of- 0f the Songwriters Hall ofice in New York City, Mrs. Fame, to be the most famous „____ Southmother. Her husband soon followed her.“I had a cancer patient inNew York,” Mrs. Gary said. ‘When I saw my mother, I saw the same symptoms. I didn’t ask her then (if she had cancer) — I was afraid to. I took her to a doctor, and he said terminal cancer.’ I took her to another doctor, he said ‘terminal cancer.’ I decided there was no need to drag her around to find a doctor to tell me what I wanted to hear. So I acceptedit. In doing so, I came to like it here.”afterwardbasso prof undo in America.“He travelled with Josh White Sr. and Jr.,” said Mrs. Gary. “He loved to travel.” Honolulu, Bermuda and Europe were just a few of the places where his journeys took him.In 1951 Mr. Gary travelled to Europe on board the ship, the Liberty, doing a show every night.boardtime the whistle blew, I was on my way off the boat!” Mrs. Gary said. On that same trip with Josh White, her husband had a memorable accident.“He was a ham and liked to make a grand entrance,” Mrs.hv a toorhpr at a lr- Gai7 said-0ne m8ht’ however, contacted by a teacher at a lo- j * hcal school, and hired as a social he tel; 311 wa^worker from the schools, later stePs and broke ^ aimbecoming a tutor for the lower grades. She currently teaches atrip was “the first he went soStaff Photos By Phil JonesCUP FULL OF CHILDREN: Mrs. Suzanne Gary was once told by a fortune teller that her life would include a cup full of children. She is now on the staff at the Happy LandEuropean Day Care Center in New Ellenton, where she also cares for her granddaughter Priscillapre-kindergarten class at Hap- far away from me for so long,” “It was bitterly cold in New asked if he would sing for her that sank in — after I gotpy Land Child Development Center in New Ellenton, where her granddaughter, Priscilla,legal custody,jumping,” Mrs.is a student.Mrs. Gary said.“I liked it better when he wasin California, then I could callhim,” she added. “It wasn’t toobad, but bad enough.”York in the winter,” she said, adding that keeping close track of bus schedules was essential if one wanted to avoid waiting for hours in the cold. “He wasbecause she had just lost her mother.“I can still see him taking offwarmer!” Mrs. Gary laughed.“Now I’m glad he did. But do you know how burned I was?his fur hat and fur coat to sing Dear Lord forgive me!”to her,” Mrs. Gary said. “He Gary described her hus- working on a rehearsal, and on sang ‘Jesus, Precious Lord’ forher. I never will forget because I was so mad. When he fin-rewardingSince co14 monthstemperamental“But I guess that’s what makes him an artist,” she added.“He was much kinder to peo-Dle than I am.” she continued,opened the door and there wasGary said of her work at Happy band as being “very the way-out of^ the studio, heLand. “Sometimes it destroys ' A ‘my peace of mind, but that’s good sometimes, too. The children stimulate me. It’s a challenge working here, but veryAmong Sam Gary’s associates when he was starting out were Woody Guthrie, Burl Ives and Harry Belafonte, Mrs.a pitifully drunk woman stand- ished, she cried and thanked Gary said, noting that theyLand recalling an incident that oc r said curred years ago while the cou mar- pie still lived in New York.ing outside. I hurried him along — we had to catch that bus. She asked who that was who was singing inside.”When her husband identifiedhim. I was boiling the bus.we missedwere all “fledglings” together “All of them made it,” she“He told me ‘As drunk as she said. “I wanted his name up inwas, she didn’t ask for a drink, lights, a big house and a furshe asked for a song. That was coat. But I couldn’t make himhimself as the singer, Mrs. the least I could do,’” she said.Gary said that the woman “Three or four days later, (See MRS. GARY, Page 7)
Newspaper Details
Aiken Standard
Aiken, South Carolina, US
Sun, Jan 18, 1987
Page 40
Full Page
Clipped by
Guest G.
AU 13 Dec 2022
Other Publications Near Aiken, South Carolina
Aiken Daily Mail
Aiken County Rambler
Aiken County Register
Aiken County Journal
Aiken Standard
