Effie Spruill Carpenter rides in the Dunwoody Fourth of July parade in 1976 as Grand Marshal.
The bicentennial year of 1976 was the occasion of the first Fourth of July parade in Dunwoody. The parade was held on Saturday, July 3. The Honorary Grand Marshal that year was 88-year-old Effie Spruill Carpenter.
When asked in 1976 how she felt about being grand marshal of the parade, Effie said “I don’t feel much like parading.” However, she agreed to participate as long as she didn’t have to walk.
Gerry Spruill and the Dunwoody Woman’s Club decided to have a Fourth of July parade that year and Lois and Harlan Kroeger volunteered to coordinate and lead the effort. (Dunwoody Reporter, “Worth knowing: the story behind Georgia’s largest Fourth of July parade,” by Carol Niemi)
The parade route in 1976 followed Chamblee Dunwoody Road from Georgetown Shopping Center to Dunwoody Village. Cecil Day and Mike Tilleman were Grand Marshals and Georgia U. S. Sen. Herman Talmadge arrived by helicopter to give a speech.
Effie Spruill’s roots were firmly set in Dunwoody. Her parents, Calhoun Spruill and Mary Copeland Spruill, had a home on Chamblee Dunwoody Road where Dunwoody Commons is today. Her grandparents were Obediah and Salina Copeland and James and Millie Adams Spruill, both pioneer families of Dunwoody.
In 1904, Effie married Ambrey Americus Carpenter and moved in with her husband’s parents, Owen and Amanda Carpenter. The Carpenters were also a pioneer family of Dunwoody. Their land and home was at the intersection of Mount Vernon Road and Tilly Mill Road.
Effie recalled that as a child, the train known as Buck would pass by the Chamblee Dunwoody Road home and her parents would send peaches and strawberries they had grown to be sold in Atlanta. After she married, she and Ambrey would drive their two horse spring wagon to Atlanta and peddle eggs, butter, vegetables, and peaches.
Mrs. Carpenter remembered fondly the days of church box suppers, quilting bees and barn raisings. When asked how Dunwoody had changed over the span of her lifetime, she said “It was just a wide place in the road in those days.” She passed away at the age of 101 in 1989.
Other sources cited include: May 1976 Neighbor Newspaper; April 1978 Dunwoody Crier; “The Story of Dunwoody,” by Elizabeth Davis, Ethel Spruill, Lynne Byrd, and Joyce Amacher; and history recollected by Jane Autry.
Effie Spruill Carpenter standing on the property where she lived after marrying Ambrey Carpenter.