Columnist Alyce Faye Bragg

Everybody’s Grandmother

By George David Begler

Photographs by Michael Keller

The call that Clinton Nichols received in October 1981 was one of many he was accustomed to handling throughout the day. He was the editor of the Clay County Free Press at the time, and fielding calls from folks around the area who had newsworthy items was just part of the job. But this was no ordinary call. It came from a spirited lady named Alyce Faye Bragg, who seemed to be completely filled with something to say about everything.

Alyce asked Mr. Nichols if he would be interested in taking on a new writer for his paper — a column writer with a new twist that his readers were sure to enjoy. His answer was, “Send me something, and we’ll see.”

Her first piece of work for the Free Press was an article about family superstitions, how tokens and omens read from everyday, naturally occurring circumstances were taken as harbingers of dreadful things about to happen, usually a death in the family. Folks might see a strange dog passing through their area, for example, and take it as an omen that a sick relative was about to die.

Writing for the Free Press was the beginning of a 10 year literary relationship that was as rewarding to her as it was to the paper’s readership.

You can read the rest of this article in this issue of Goldenseal, available in bookstores, libraries or direct from Goldenseal.