Zelma Calhoun made some great pies... And though she did not work in a factory, and this is no 'piep' dream...the estimates are that she baked more than 650,000. This is another one of those reasons and stories why those of us in the south may seem to worship at the altar of Chick Fil A.
When I was a freshman in Athens at the University of Georgia, I was witness to a curious and somewhat regular happening on Sundays following almost every UGA Dawgs home game Saturday... As I left my dorm room and entered the long hall, we had a corner room, on the fourth floor. There were no elevators, only stairs, and a slight and spritely elderly and bald man, with a big smile on his face, was walking up the stairs, and then down that long hall, hauling more than anyone probably should carry, in neatly stacked and string-tied boxes, of what I would soon learn were incredibly delicious and near freshly baked pies.
The man, was Truett Cathy, the founder of the Chick Fil A sandwich, and then owner of a successful but modest chain of primarily mall food court restaurants called Chick Fil A. I was fortunate to grow up near one of their then first food court locations at North DeKalb Mall, and this was the early 80's, so you could count the CFA stores on a handful of hands, and the first free-standing location, also nearby that mall shop, had not opened quite yet.
At the ORIGINAL store, called The Dwarf House, opened in 1949 by Cathy, and though twice remodeled, still serving huge crowds and quantities each week on the Dwarf House diner & grille side, as well as a standard Chick Fil A restaurant inside, there is now also a mini-bakery and pie shop, named for Ms. Calhoun.
Mr. Cathy was already on his way, but this was decades before he became a billionaire, yet on those football Saturdays, he could still make the drive around to EACH and every CFA location in a few hours. All CFA's and the famed Dwarf House were closed on Sundays. Except for the apple and peach, there was a decent amount of dairy and cream in all of the other signature pies. Cathy would make the store rounds after the dinner rush each Saturday, gathering up all of the unsold pies. Those few day old pies were NOT going to be sold ‘as fresh’ to his customers on Monday.
So Cathy, a devout Christian and thrifty survivor of the Depression did for what for him was only practical as well as practicing his faith, he gathered up all those pies for redistribution. The first of many Cathy family foster children, Woody Faulk, lived in my dorm hall, and floor at Reed Hall at UGA, next door to Sanford Stadium. Truett was hauling those pies to Woody and any of his hungry friends.
Those pies, lemon. chocolate and coconut creme pies were to DIE FOR. Fried apple and peach pies were later menu additions, with Ms. Zelma serving as the lead baker for 45 years. Towards the end of her professional baking, Ms. Zelma was making more than 100 pies per day. Truett Cathy hired Zelma Murphy Calhoun while she was still in high school in 1954 at the Dwarf House in Hapeville.
When she decided to retire in 2000, Truett Cathy gave her a brand new Ford Mustang as a parting gift. Looking like new, that car still sits in her driveway as she transitioned this past week at the age of 89. As the Dwarf House went through a second major re-model in 2022, the new pie shop, just inside the entrance, was named in her honor, and in the large kitchen, which serves two dining rooms, she is a star on the Dwarf House Wall of Fame.
A letter from Truett Cathy, which accompanied that Mustang is a family keepsake. At the age of 88, in 2023, Ms. Zelma returned for one last stint of baking, to give the new pie shop with her name on the wall and just inside her beloved work home one more tour of duty... They lined up around the building for those pies.
The bakery in heaven just got a major upgrade. I imagine if not already, Mr. Cathy will be giving her the full tour. Please save me one slice of that lemon pie, Miss Zelma assuming I eventually make it to that counter.
