Omnivore - Peggy, the Silver Grill eyebrow lady, dies
She worked almost 50 years at the iconic but defunct Midtown diner
I’m sorry to report that Peggy Hubbard, who waited tables at the Silver Grill almost 50 years, died last Sunday, Jan. 3. She was 76.
The Silver Grill closed two years ago but reopened with new owners as the Midtown Silver Grill. Peggy came back to work for a while but her bouts with cancer made work impossible, according to a mutual friend. (The restaurant’s new incarnation closed recently.)
Peggy was famous for her eyebrows, her blunt language and her big heart. As I wrote before, she assumed the role of surrogate mother for many young gay men. When AIDS hit the city, infecting and eventually killing many of her customers, Peggy delivered food to them, visited them in the hospital and attended their funerals.
It is hard to say how much this meant. In the first few years of the epidemic, parents frequently abandoned their infected children. It was not unusual for doctors to refuse to see patients with HIV, especially when they entered the terminal phase. Nurses often refused to go into a dying AIDS patient’s room.
But Peggy was never afraid and never hesitated to help.
I remember first meeting Peggy after I moved back to Atlanta after five years of working in rural Georgia back in the ’80s. My friend Glenn — one of those who died early in the epidemic — insisted we go to dinner at the Silver Grill. I immediately became addicted to the restaurant’s fried chicken and became a fan of Peggy’s. She helped nurse Glenn in the last few months of his life.
Take a look at the guest book for Peggy on Legacy.com for evidence of how loved she was. My condolences to her son and other survivors.
(Photo by Cliff Bostock)