Anna Lou Jewell died the other day a gracious but energetic lady who made her mark in Gainesville as an individual, and as the wife of Jesse Jewell, the most-recognized pioneer of the North Georgia poultry industry. Mrs. Jewell was 99 years young and it seems fair to say she lived a full and fruitful life almost to the end.
Jesse Jewell changed North Georgia from a poor, eroded row-crop farming region to a reasonably well-to-do farming economy based on frying chickens. It is fair to say, looking back at its history, that the early days of the chicken business was a very high risk time. There were times when the industry made money, good money. But there were the other times, too...times when some did not make it at all, and times when others squeaked through by the skin of their teeth. The Jewell organization had its good times, and its bad times. But Jesse Jewell had the ability and the skill, and we should also say, the enthusiasm, to come through and keep building. And one of the people who stuck with him through thick and thin was Anna Lou Jewell. She did much more than merely cheer him on she was part of the team. She often traveled with him on business. When he was president of the Southeastern Poultry and Egg Association, President of the Georgia State Chamber of Commerce, or on the board of the U. S. Chamber of Commerce, or when he represented the industry on world trips, building poultry markets through the National Broiler Council.
Back home she raised a family and was active in the community. She enjoyed gardening, and she was a fisherman (I don't think she would approve of me calling her a fisher-woman and certainly not a fisher-person). She did the kind of fishing that used worms and she baited her own hook. She loved baseball, and followed the Atlanta Braves avidly. Jesse Jewell was disabled with a stroke in 1963 and she took care of him until he died in 1975....and if he was living today, I am sure he would proudly say Anna Lou was as much a part of the Jewell legacy as he was.
This is Gordon Sawyer, from a window on historic Green Street.
Saturday
July 5th, 2025
2:24AM
