The late Ann Brewer, center (in yellow), joins Newton students during their exploration and cleanup of an historic cemetery. (Photo by George Lonberger)

by Rebecca Rakoczy

During her life, Ann Brewer demonstrated a genuine interest in students attending Georgia Perimeter College’s Newton Campus.

She welcomed them and their geography professor, Dr. George Lonberger, to Mount Pleasant, her historic antebellum home adjacent to the campus. There, the class would explore the Graves family cemetery to learn the history of the area. They also would clean old tombstones.

Brewer often would join them in the cleanup—then invite the students into her home for cookies and lemonade, Lonberger said.

“She was the kind of person who seemed to know everybody and never forgot a student,” he said. “She was just so happy that we would use the cemetery as a learning resource; she enjoyed that so much. She also had a love of books and learning.”

Brewer was a frequent visitor to the Newton Campus, as well, attending symposia and special events.

The generosity Brewer displayed toward students did not end with the Newton resident’s death  in January 2015. Her estate endowed a $50,000 gift for scholarships for Newton Campus students. The Oby T. and Ann C. Brewer Scholarship provides $2,500 for tuition, fees, books and educational expenses each year to a qualified student.

The gift reflects the personal interest Brewer took in students, which included her extraordinary memory of each of them.

“One of my students was working at Belk’s [department store], and Ms. Brewer saw him and started speaking to him, and told him that she remembered him from the college,” Lonberger says. “She never knew a stranger—once she met you, she knew you.”