Lucy McIntire

Lucy Barrow McIntire (July 11, 1886 – November 4, 1967) was an American actress, suffragist, activist, preservationist, and poet born in Athens, Georgia, to the prominent Davenport family. She married attorney Francis Percival McIntire, relocated to his hometown of Savannah, and raised six children, the oldest of whom, James William, was born in 1910, Francis Jr. on July 19, 1921, and the youngest, Pope, in 1924.

McIntire's involvement in amateur theatre led to her Broadway appearance in 1928. That year, the Town Theatre in Savannah held a contest for the best one-act play, which was won by Frances Hargis's The Hero. McIntire portrayed the widowed daughter of a Civil War veteran in the production, with her son's role played by Johnny Mercer, whom she encouraged to pursue songwriting and acting. The production traveled to New York City to compete in the Belasco Theatre's sixth annual tournament, performing at both the Frolic Theatre on May 11, 1928, and the old New Amsterdam Theatre, ultimately placing second. The Broadway credit associated with this work is listed as Hero Worship.

In Savannah, McIntire co-founded the local chapters of the Junior League and the League of Women Voters, serving as the Junior League of Savannah's first president. She also held the presidency of both the Georgia Federation of Women's Clubs and the Savannah Suffrage Association. Her support for Woodrow Wilson's presidential campaign led to her appointment as the first Georgia Committeewoman on the Democratic National Committee. She was additionally the first woman to serve on Savannah's Metropolitan Planning Commission and helped establish a free lunch program within the Chatham County School District.

Among the organizations McIntire co-founded were the Historic Savannah Foundation in 1955, the Savannah Country Day School, the Chatham Nursing Home, the Juvenile Protection Association, the Savannah Health Center, the Savannah Nursery School, the Women's Relief Committee, and Savannah's Christmas Stocking. During the 1930s she worked as a field supervisor for the Works Progress Administration, and following the outbreak of World War II she served as a service director for the American Red Cross and founded the U.S.O.–Soldiers Social Service of Savannah.

McIntire was a great-great-great-granddaughter of Isaiah Davenport and played a role in converting the Isaiah Davenport House into a museum, cutting the ribbon at its official opening ceremony on March 9, 1963. Her preservation advocacy extended to poetry; she helped found the Georgia Poetry Society and won prizes for her own verse, publishing Three Islands through the Poetry Society of Georgia in 1923.

Savannah named McIntire Woman of the Year in 1955, and in 1958 she received both the Groves Award and the Oglethorpe Trophy for her preservation work. She died on November 4, 1967, in Savannah and is buried at Laurel Grove Cemetery. In 1997 she was inducted into the Georgia Women of Achievement Hall of Fame. McIntire is also a character in Michael Ching's 2017 opera Anna Hunter, the Spirit of Savannah, which premiered in Savannah, with the role originated by Legera Danielides.