Did you know that the “Poppy Lady” once lived in Forsyth?

From 1909 to 1911 Moina Belle Michael was lady principal, a position like dean of students, at Bessie Tift College.

After her time here, she moved to Athens to work at the State Normal School and direct the women’s dormitory, Winnie Davis Hall. When the United States declared war on Germany in 1917, Michael went to work with the Y. W. C. A. in New York City.

There in 1918 she saw in The Ladies Home Journal John McCrae’s poem, then entitled “We Shall Not Sleep,” with its opening lines,

         "In Flanders field the poppies blow,
          Between the crosses row on row."

The closing lines were

          "To you from failing hands we throw
          The torch; Be yours to hold it high.
           If ye break faith with us who die,
           We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
           In Flanders fields."

Michael rushed out to buy $10 worth of red silk poppies at Wanamaker’s and then distributed them as symbols of the sacrifices made in the then-concluding war.

When she returned to Athens, she continued the poppy promotion, their sale providing a source of income for wounded and disabled soldiers. In 1920, the American Legion, recently organized, embraced the movement and soon the sale of poppies on Armistice Day, now Veterans Day, helped raise funds for assistance to disabled veterans.