Over the years I've blogged many times about The Silver Grill, a midtown Atlanta institution that started in 1946 and remained in the Walton family until it closed 60 years later in 2006. [I started eating at the grill in the early 90's and immediately became addicted to the fried chicken. I probably ate there at least twice a month. The "meat and three" was that good--and a terrific bargain.] The grill reopened, under new ownership, in 2007, with several of the old timers returning to continue working there, including Peggy Hubbard.
I've blogged about Peggy before. She was very well know in the midtown community as she worked at The Silver Grill since she was a teenager. "Hun, it's all I've ever known." I just loved her. She spoke her mind. She didn't put up with any foolishness. She was incredibly kind hearted, hard working, full of down home wisdom, and seemed to know absolutely everyone in all of midtown. In fact, if you were a regular at the grill, as most customers were, you were like one of her grandchildren.
After my father passed away, my mother came up to visit for the holidays. We went to The Silver Grill for dinner one evening. And while it was a busy shift, Peggy took the time to sit down at the table for a moment and say to my mother, "I just love your son. And he looks just like you."
She loved and helped out everyone: homeless people, gay people, professional types, the Atlanta police officers, young people starting a family, good old boys--made no difference to her. To be such a small establishment, the grill attracted a large and remarkably diverse and colorful crowd, and she was simply good to everyone.
Well, sadly, I'm told The Silver Grill (part II) closed its doors again a couple of months ago: this time, probably for good. But, even sadder still, about a month after it closed, on January 3, 2010, Peggy, at age 76, passed away as a result of lung cancer.
Peggy was famous for her eyebrows, her blunt language and her big heart. As I wrote before, she assumed the role of surrogate mother for many young gay men. When AIDS hit the city, infecting and eventually killing many of her customers, Peggy delivered food to them, visited them in the hospital and attended their funerals."
[Source: Peggy, the Silver Grill Lady, Dies | Creative Loafing.]
I didn't know that about Peggy but am not at all surprised. I will always remember her fondly and am certain her funeral was attended by many, many people from all walks of life. You can sign her guestbook at this legacy.com link. She, like the institution at which she worked for so many years, was part of the very fabric of Atlanta.
She did a lot of good in this world.
May she rest in peace.
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