Louise G. Briggs

Louise Grazette Briggs: Dancing Among the Stars

By Mark and Jacqueline Hicks Grazette

Louise Grazette Briggs was born as Beatrice Louise Chambers on September 8, 1928 in the Brooklyn Hospital, the first of four children from the marriage of Frank Chambers and Adina Thompson.  An early picture reveals a ginger colored baby with eyes opened bright towards the world, mouth slightly agape in maybe wonder, and curly stacked hair.  At first glance, you might say a typical, lovable baby, but you have to look closer.  Already, she is dressed to the nines and resting on fur, the first sign of her signature elegance to come. 

Louise--as she came to be known---spent her educational years in a way that differs from the path most black Americans followed in the 1930s; most certainly different from where my parents grew up in the deep South.  Growing up in Brooklyn, surprisingly, she and her siblings were always able to attend schools that were fully integrated.  As Jackie interviewed her to learn more about her life, Louise told her that she did not really know about the racial turmoil raging through the South as a child.   She graduated Summa Cum Laude in her class. Education brought Louise the ability to play the piano, enjoy music of every genre, the theater, and the richness of a liberal arts education.  As a result, Louise’s interests were many.  She worked at the Brooklyn Library and for many years as a head legal file clerk at different companies.  She loved reading, drawing, and crafting.  She showed early an interest in fashion design and took a course, designing many outfits, including a beautiful fuschia gown she wore to our wedding.  She loved travel, with her journeys taking her to London, Paris, Sweden, Spain, Mexico, and Africa. Louise shared these interests with her close friends, her church and senior communities.    

Louise loved dancing and this may have led her to the first love of her life, Mark’s father. Louise found romance in Edwin Stanley Grazette, affectionately known as Eddie.  Louise talked about how she and Eddie were the “belles of the ball” on the dance floor. Mark is their only child, and  he was christened Mark David Grazette.  The middle name of David was given to him for Louise’s cousin David, an artist and teacher whose work Louise admired.  As they say, be careful what one names a child, for Mark certainly took after David and Louise and became an artist.  Both Eddie and Louise loved being parents.  Education meant a great deal to her, and Mark publicly thanked her at Louise’s 90th Birthday party, for sending him to Brooklyn Ethical Culture, Choate-Rosemary Hall and Harvard. 

Family and friends meant a great deal to Louise.  She delighted in her in-laws, and in her nieces and nephews.  She attended all family weddings and parties, visited the sick and shut-in, and showed her respect at all funerals, as long as she was capable.  It is probably hard for most of you to remember a holiday or birthday where Louise did not send you a card, or make a call.   

Louise loved a good laugh, a hug, and any opportunity to offer support.  It has been heartwarming the number of friends and family who have shared anecdotes of how she worked to make their lives better---or was there when they needed just the right act of kindness

Sports and chocolate were among her lifelong passions.   To call her a sports fan is an understatement.  Jackie remembers Louise volunteering to help with the preparation for Mark’s surprise 40th birthday---up until almost the moment of surprise, it was hard to pull Louise away from a basketball game. Louise attended The Belmont stakes and she and Jackie had hoped to wear hats one day at the Preakness or Kentucky Derby.

Along with her sister Enid Chambers Werne, Louise Grazette Briggs leaves in passing many beloved relatives and friends, too numerous to list here.  Please join us for her memorial celebration on Saturday, May 22, 2021 at 11:30 am, where more family, friends, and wonderful moments from her life will be presented and enjoyed.