Lucy Barrow McIntire (July 11, 1886 – November 4, 1967), also called Miss Lucy, was an American suffragist, activist, preservationist, actor, and poet.
Early life
Lucy Barrow Davenport was born in Athens, Georgia, on July 11, 1886, to the prominent Davenport family.[1] She married attorney Francis Percival McIntire; the couple moved to Francis' hometown of Savannah and had six children. The oldest, James William, was born in 1910;[2] Francis Jr. on July 19, 1921;[3] and the youngest, Pope, was born in 1924.[4]
McIntire helped to establish a free lunch program within the Chatham County School District, and she was the first woman to serve on Savannah's Metropolitan Planning Commission.
McIntire was involved with the conversion of the Isaiah Davenport House into a museum; she is Isiah Davenport's great-great-great-granddaughter. McIntire cut the ribbon at the museum's official opening ceremony on March 9, 1963.[5]
McIntire was involved in amateur theatre. In 1928, the Town Theatre in Savannah held a contest for the best one-act play; the winner was The Hero, written by Frances Hargis, in which McIntire portrayed the widowed daughter of a Civil War veteran. Her son was played by Johnny Mercer, whom she "advised... to give songwriting and acting a try".[7] The production traveled to New York City to compete in the Belasco Theatre's sixth annual tournament, performing in both the Frolic Theatre (May 11, 1928) and the old New Amsterdam Theatre before placing second.
Regarding her work with Historic Savannah Association, McIntire wrote that Savannah was "one of the most beautiful cities and unique in the United States", lamenting that "[y]ear after year architecturally beautiful homes and historic structures were going down".[1]
Death and legacy
The city of Savannah named McIntire Woman of the Year in 1955. In 1958, she received the Groves Award[1] and the Oglethorpe Trophy for her preservation work.[8]
McIntire died on November 4, 1967, in Savannah, Georgia. She is buried at Laurel Grove Cemetery.
She was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame in 1997.[9]