Published: February 07, 2008 11:09 pm            

Cooking not a challenge for Margaree Maynard

AMERICUS, Ga. — Margaree Maynard started her early years of cooking by watching her mother, Marie Griffin Haynes. However, Maynard’s mother died when she was young, and Maynard was faced with the challenge of helping prepare food for her younger siblings.

“I was only 11 years old when my mother passed away and my father, Bob Haynes, and my Aunt Mary Lee helped raise us along with my older brothers and sisters. I remember my older brother and I would make biscuits at night and put them in the refrigerator for the next day. We would get up and make breakfast for the rest of the children before they went to school,” Maynard said as she explained being the fifth of 10 children.

“We would get up and make five to six pans of biscuit, salmon and fatback,” she said describing the big breakfasts which her mother had prepared.

“After my mother died, we would prepare the same breakfast she would have prepared,” she said.

Maynard said she has since cooked for various restaurants near her hometown of Ellaville such as Americus and even Atlanta. She has also had the opportunity to venture out into the northeast to Boston and Maryland.

Maynard said even though she was raised in a small town, she has been able to cook in the finest of restaurants and meet some interesting people over the 43 years she’s been involved in the restaurant business.

“My first job was at a place called the Ellavilla Court. It was a small restaurant in Ellaville. Then I worked at a restaurant in Atlanta called the Davis Brothers. It was located on Peachtree Street and it was one of the finest restaurants during the 1960s,” she said explaining she had met Colonel Sanders while employed with Davis Brothers.

“It was fascinating. He was telling us how he got started with the chicken business. I remember looking at him and then looking at his picture on the box. I was looking at both of them at the same time,” she said explaining that Sanders had attended one of their employee meetings.

“He came back into the kitchen afterwards and talked to each and every one of us. I remember him telling me I would make a good cook one day,” Maynard said explaining she was only 18 at the time.

Maynard said she was a young girl from Ellaville and back then it seemed like there were so many different people from various countries working in the kitchens.

“I do remember the Colonel telling us ‘Whatever you do when you are preparing a meal, do your very best. Make your customers enjoy it so they will come back.’” she said.

Maynard also had the opportunity to meet former President Jimmy Carter and country music celebrity Willie Nelson while working in the kitchen of the Rib and Loin, a restaurant located in Americus in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

“They tipped well,” she said with a laugh as she explained Carter and Nelson eating a seven-course meal.

Another highlight of Maynard’s cooking history is taking care of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Abernathy’s children.

“They worked with Martin Luther King. They lived right off of Hunter Street at 154 Cero St.,” she said explaining Abernathy’s role in the civil rights movement.

While working for the Abernathys, Maynard was able to meet many more interesting people including singer Smokey Robinson, and actor/singer/composer Harry Bellafonte.

“Bellafonte shook my hand and hugged me, and I didn’t want to wash my hand for a long time,” she said with a laugh as she sang “Day-O.”

“After they started burning crosses in the front yard I became afraid. I left Atlanta. I was still a young girl,” she said explaining the chaos and fear which came along with the struggle to end segregation.

Maynard said while in Boston she had the opportunity to meet basketball star Bill Russell of the Boston Celtics while employed with Stockies Restaurant and Lounge located on Columbus Avenue.

“I have enjoyed my life of cooking, and it has allowed me to meet many wonderful people,” she said explaining she has since retired from cooking in restaurants and now cooks for pleasure.

“It pleasures me to cook for my family; my daughter Gloria Marie Hollis and my granddaughter Ashleigh Marie Campbell and I enjoy cooking for friends. I did fix plates for the elderly during Christmas, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. I cooked for the elderly who didn’t have children who could cook for them,” she said.

Maynard said her favorite dish is collard greens.

“I cook mine with smoked turkey. I used to cook them with ham hocks, but now I have changed my way of cooking since I have high blood pressure. Cooking them this way is much better for you and they taste good,” she said.

Maynard said even though she met many famous people outside the kitchen, she was a star in the kitchen, never missing a cut of meat.

“You can get 17 cuts out of a prime rib. You can get a king-size, queen-size and a princess cut. If I had a party of 100, I knew exactly how many prime ribs to cook and how may cuts I would get,” she said explaining that if you are in charge of the kitchen, you have to be up on it.

“I enjoyed cooking; I still do,” Maynard said.

Maynard also feeds the masses in more than one way. She is a proud sponsor of Feed the Children and has helped provide 17,658 meals over the years.

Overall, Maynard enjoys preparing dishes for her church, Word Of Power Christian Ministry located on South Hamilton Street.

“I cook when we have special events. They call and tell me what they would like for me to prepare,” she said as she explained how she has face dchallenges in her life.

“No matter what kind of curve life throws at you, if you keep God first in your life, you can overcome it,” she said with a vibrant smile.



Lisa Law writes for the Americus (Ga.) Times-Recorder.

        

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