Lucy Hubert was the ninth child of Camilla and Zack Hubert. She was born in 1891 in rural Georgia. Like all of her sisters, she was educated at Spelman College. After graduating, she remained at home with her parents assisting them in the care of the house and farm, and also teaching. However, she was anxious to leave home to see the "big city." Her older sister, Jency had traveled to Chicago, and so Lucy took it upon herself to follow her sister.
While in Chicago, she stayed with Jency helping in the millinery business that she had started. Years later, she would meet Guy Bowling, a Chicago businessman, who owned Bowling Moving Vans. The two married and had four boys and one girl. In the early years, Lucy worked as a seamstress because she could not afford to return to school to earn credits to be a Chicago schoolteacher as she was in Georgia. So, she made do with her earnings as seamstress. Also, she wanted to keep an open eye on her brood of five. When her children became older, she started working for the Social Security Department, the Internal Revenue Service, OPA, and was often a judge on the election board. Her children, her church (the Monumental Baptist Church) and family kept her quite busy. After her retirement from the Social Security Department, she stayed at home with her grandchildren that numbered ten.
Lucy loved to cook, entertain and travel. She loved to recite poems and tell about her experiences growing up in her father's and mother's house. She often told of how strict her father was with everyone, although she did say that he was extremely intelligent. She told how they as children growing up had to say their prayers and say scripture every morning before they ate. She told of how each sibling had a chore to do in the house. Because Lucy loved to cook, she remained in the kitchen. Lucy loved to talk and discuss poetry (Paul Laurence Dunbar). As young children, she taught all of us Dunbar's "In the Morning." To this day, I believe we can still recite it if called upon. She was always singing and had a beautiful voice.
Grandmother also loved to shop and dress in the latest styles. She always had black hair and the latest styles and always watched her figure to make sure she didn't gain any weight. The only food she really loved was the sweet potato. She hated half-done things, and would often be heard saying, "Do it well or not at all." She also would say "To thine own self be true." At the time, we did not understand that last adage, but in time came recognize its importance in our lives. Grandmother Lucy was always full of witticisms about her mother and her father and her brothers and sisters. She particularly cared for Mabel Hubert and would send us to visit her in the summer. She also talked a lot about her brothers, Ted in New York, James in New York, Ben whom she greatly admired. One could often just sit and listen as she told story after story about their growing up in the South. She loved her parents dearly and cherished her brothers and sisters.
On May 16, 1965, Lucy made her transition. She left behind her children, Lunsford (now deceased), Guy Edmund Jr. (now deceased), Thelma Smith, Judson (now deceased), and Hubert (now deceased) and many grandchildren - in particular, her granddaughters Dr. Beverly J. Bennett and Dr. Janet B. Lang and their children Paige Bennett, Charles E. Lang II and David Ansel Lang (respectively). She is truly missed and remembered through her will to preserve to image and heritage of the Hubert family.
Written by:
Dr. Janet B. Lang