Griffin Speaks

A TRIBUTE TO FANNIE B. FOSTER

Several years ago, I walked outside of my home and met one of the most incredible women in my life. Her name was Fannie B. Foster. She was ubiquitous, funny, articulate and knew everybody’s business. If you wanted to know what was happening in black Montgomery all you needed to do was call Ms. Foster. She had the reputation of being more accurate than the local media. She knew personal and sensational facts about almost everyone of notability.

Every serious black politician knew Ms. Foster. When I first met her, she and two small boys were distributing political fliers in my Haardt Estate neighborhood. She immediately struck up a conversation with me. By the time we finished talking I had heard the scoop on Middle Class Black Montgomery. How did this woman of meager means captivate the Montgomery black bourgeois?

To know Fannie Foster was to love her. She did not have a mean spirited bone in her body. She loved and respected people even though she would talk about them like a dog!

When people would learn that Ms. Foster had said something disparaging about them, they couldn’t get angry. She once told me that a close friend of mine was “ one of those things”. When I told him what Ms. Foster had said, he nearly died laughing. It was impossible to get angry with her. What mystical power did she have?

She lived in a modest apartment in Highland Village. She drove a simple car. She did not wear fancy clothes or hold impressive degrees. But when she died Black Montgomery literally came to a standstill to attend her funeral. I overheard one man at her funeral make the comment: “ You would think this was Judge Charles Price’s funeral.”

Everyone of note was there at her funeral. I saw Judges, Attorneys, Physicians, dentists, teachers, professors, bankers, entrepreneurs, engineers, morticians, city officials, state officials, federal officials, black politicians, white politicians, etc. Old Ship A.M.E. Zion Church had never seen a funeral like Fannie Foster’s funeral.

I saw people that I knew she had talked about just sobbing as they passed by her coffin. It was unbelievable. We all loved her. What was it that she had over us? The highlight of her funeral was when Attorney Gwen Kennedy played Amazing Grace on her flute. I thought Ms. Foster was going to come back to life and kiss her. Gwen, a dear friend of mine thought the world of Fannie Foster even though Ms. Foster sometimes referred to Gwen as “ZA ZA GABOR.”

We loved Fannie Foster because she was real. She was humble and honest. She enjoyed talking and connecting to people. She loved grassroots politics. If she were living today, everyone would be calling her to find out if Donald Watkins is really a billionaire. Ms. Foster’s comment to those asking about Donald would probably be: “ I don’t know, but give me 24 hours!” Greg Griffin is a columnist for the historic Montgomery- Tuskegee times. He can be contacted at www.greggriffin.com