GCSU celebrates Flannery O’Connor’s 99th birthday at Andalusia

The great Southern author Mary “Flannery” O’Connor, ’45, would’ve turned 99 on Monday, March 25. Georgia College & State University celebrates her birthday Saturday, March 23. The university will hold free tours at Andalusia from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and a cake cutting at noon. A new exhibit at the Andalusia Interpretive Center will also debut that day.

As part of the birthday festivities, the folk group Colin Cutler & Hot Pepper Jam will perform at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 21, in Andalusia’s Interpretive Center story-telling court.

The public is also invited to join an enlightening Zoom discussion (passcode: 054421) about O’Connor and her uncle, the late Louis Cline, at 7 p.m. Monday, March 25. Family members attending the session include Louis’ niece Frances Florencourt, who knew Louis the longest, as well as O’Connor’s cousins Jack Tarleton, Mark Cline and Mary Anne Murray.

O’Connor lived at Andalusia with her mother, Regina Cline, and uncle, Louis Cline—who was a constant in Flannery’s life. Whether he was teaching her how to ride a pony, conversing with Flannery while whittling wood on the porch or tending to the Andalusia farm and home—his influence on her was extraordinarily profound—so much so that she intended to dedicate her unfinished novel to him.

Through his job as a traveling salesman for King Hardware, Louis rambled through Georgia’s backwoods, making friends and picking up tall tales, as well as fruit and vegetables to share with the family.

“I assume he picked up many a story on his travels,” Mark Cline said. “Be assured, he brought back this colorful world of the rural South to eager ears at Andalusia.”

Louis was reserved but helpful, dedicated and generous. He had a treasure trove of stories and Georgia’s delicious bounties.

“Louis Cline was a generous provider and the man Regina and Mary Flannery depended on,” Cline said. “Louis had a large presence at Andalusia. But more importantly, he was the man who brought stories of the rural south home to Andalusia, adding to the richness of Mary Flannery’s vivid imagination and, in turn, to the output of her typewriter.”

To learn more about Andalusia, visit: https://www.gcsu.edu/andalusia or call (478) 445-8722.

SOURCE Georgia College & State University