Jeff Sexton
Fascinating And *Southern* Tale Of Near-Death Of Road trip Staple. Stephanie Stuckey has led a life few Georgians have. She is a scion of a family that had become somewhat rich and somewhat powerful over the last century, whose grandfather once proclaimed (per Stuckey, here in the text) that he had made more money than his grandchildren could ever spend (but which they did, again, per Stuckey here), whose father had been a Congressman and who herself had been a State Representative for nearly 15 years. Both she and her father are UGA alumni, both from well before the era where the HOPE scholarship made such an achievement much more doable for many Georgians.
All of this is included here, but really, this is the tale of the ascent to those heights... and the downfall from them, as changes mostly made by others - as well as a few mistakes made within the company - led to near non-existence of the family company, fortune, and even legacy.
Herein lies a quintessential Southern tale of Southern family and business acumen, of a legacy built, nearly destroyed, and of one woman's fight to restore that legacy to all that it had once been... and maybe, just maybe... even increase it for her own children.
The story is told with all of the grace, grit, and wonder of a granddaughter who clearly grew up living at least some of the history involved, but only much later in life finding out all that she *didn't* know, including just how fundamental the black community was to her (white) grandfather's success in the era of Jim Crow, and how mutually beneficial and respectful the relationships there were. Up to and including Civil Rights activists actively encouraging their people to stop at Stuckey's, knowing that they would be treated with the respect they didn't always get in the South in that era.
As someone who has also uncovered lost family history later in life - and who has lived in some of the regions this tale centers around, as well as, yes, having sampled quite a few of the family's candies-, this was a story I could connect with on several levels, even as my own family was... let's go with "not quite so fortunate" over the years, to the point that when I graduated from Kennesaw State University near the turn of this Millennium, I was the first in my family to have graduated college at all.
Overall truly a triumphant and hopeful tale, well told with the respect, humor, and candor one doesn't always get in such deeply personal tales fraught with such sensitive topics as race relations in the South. Very much recommended.