Elizabeth (McCants) Drinnon

Irmo Elizabeth McCants Drinnon of Irmo, S.C., formerly of Macon, Ga., died Tuesday, July 20, 2021 in Columbia. Her funeral service will be held at 1:00 p.m. Monday, July 26, 2021 at Union United Methodist Church in Taylor County, Ga., with burial in the Union Cemetery. Dunbar Funeral Home, Dutch Fork Chapel in Columbia, S.C. and McLeighton Funeral Service of Butler, Ga., are in charge of arrangements. Born in Butler, Ga., she spent most of her adult life in Macon, where she retired as director of university relations at Mercer University. She was responsible for public relations in Mercer’s Macon schools and at various times in their Atlanta schools also. For almost 20 years, she was public relations and program director at the Macon YWCA. A feature writer for The Macon Telegraph for several years, she also was employed in the law offices of the late Hallie B. Bell and the late Judge Hal Bell. When she was starting out as a freelance writer, she was assigned to work with a spirited young newspaper photographer, Everett G. Drinnon. They later married in Macon in 1949, a marriage that lasted almost 70 years. As a freelance writer, she wrote articles regularly for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution Magazine and also had articles published in the Georgia Review, Georgia Journal and various national publications of the United Methodist Church. She was the author of “Stuckey,” a biography of the late Williamson Sylvester Stuckey, founder of the widely known Stuckey’s chain of pecan and candy shops. She also wrote, on request, an article on Stuckey’s for Oxford University’s Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. She had several short stories published in “Georgia on My Mind,” an anthology. For 20 years, she handled public relations for the annual Georgia State Fair. She was also in charge of public relations for Bibb County’s Stop Polio campaign, for the March of Dimes and American Cancer Society in Macon. A member of the Macon Writers’ Club, she was also a longtime member of Mulberry Street United Methodist Church in Macon, where she was a former member of the administrative board, communications coordinator and Sunday school teacher. She was a former member of the American Association of Medical Colleges Public Affairs Committee. After leaving her position at the YMCA, she served on its board of directors. A former member of the Mary Hammond Washington Chapter of the DAR, she served for a number of years on the James Hyde Porter Memorial Library Trustees. A native of Taylor County, Ga., she was the daughter of the late Jonathan Morgan McCants and Leila Booth McCants. Her family history in Taylor County goes back more than 200 years. An honor graduate of Butler High School, she attended Wesleyan College in Macon. She was predeceased by her husband, Everett G. Drinnon. Survivors are her daughters, Licia Drinnon Jackson and her husband, C. Grant Jackson, of Columbia, and Lauren Drinnon Leskosky and her husband, Bryan Leskosky, of Savannah, Ga.; five grandchildren, Grant N. Jackson and wife, Jennifer Whetstone Jackson of Columbia, Jonathan Jackson and his partner, Greg Springer of Tallahassee, Fla., Lou Leskosky of Warner Robins, Ga., Hilary Jackson Stone and husband, Isaac Stone of Lexington, and Rett Morgan Jackson of Columbia. She is also survived by three great-granddaughters, Ava Jackson, Leila Jackson and Imogen Stone. Those who wish may make memorial contributions to Union United Methodist Church Cemetery Fund, care of Kim Jarrell, 1524 Glencoe Drive, Columbus, Ga. 31904. Memories may be shared  at www.mcleightonfuneralservice.com.

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