The life and legacy of Gladys Ann Hunter Sawyer — a Memphis-born entrepreneur, civic leader, arts supporter and family matriarch — were honored with the unveiling of an honorary street sign in front of the home where she was raised.
The sign, unveiled by Memphis City Councilwoman Pearl Eva Walker, marks Decatur Street near Jackson Avenue and recognizes Sawyer’s contributions to Memphis across her 72 years of life.
Sawyer, who died in 2022, was the mother of Michael Hooks Jr., founder and CEO of Allworld Project Management, and former Shelby County commissioner, and General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer.
For Hooks, the moment was both deeply personal and a reminder that public honor does not always come to those with the loudest names.
“I was honored and humbled,” Hooks said, “and reminded how refreshing it was for someone like her to be commemorated, not for just popularity or notoriety but for being a quiet, consistent, productive member of her community.”
Tami Sawyer, in a Facebook post after the unveiling, noted that her mother was born in the segregated John Gaston Hospital before being raised in the home now marked by the honorary sign.
“Her life was one of service, and she raised my brother and me to live the same,” Tami Sawyer wrote.
Born May 12, 1949, to Raymond Thomas and Bernice Hunter, Gladys Sawyer grew up as the oldest of her mother’s nine children. After graduating from DuSable High School in Chicago, she returned to Memphis and attended Memphis State University, where she became the first Miss Black Memphis State, joined Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., and was part of the Memphis State 109, the student activists who challenged segregation and discrimination on campus.
Her professional life reflected that same blend of vision and determination. Sawyer owned Cooking with GAS catering in Evanston, Ill., and later co-owned and managed the North Shore Examiner and Brides Today with her husband, Andrew Benjamin Sawyer Jr. She went on to work in marketing and project management before founding HGF Inc., a Memphis-based firm serving government and nonprofit clients.
Hooks said his mother’s legacy stands on its own, even within a family name widely associated with Memphis civic life.
“I bear the Hooks name,” he said. “The expectation there is, we’re blessed to come from a family who’s known for doing things in the community. But my mother was not so widely known. Looking back on her life, the things she did, and particularly the people she helped, was just as wide as some of the popular names.”
Sawyer also served on the boards of the Women’s Foundation for a Greater Memphis and Girls Inc. of Memphis. She was a member of the River City Chapter of The Links Inc., and was among the founders of Hattiloo Theatre’s Whitman Sisters.
For the family, the sign is more than a marker.
“My father, who is a man of little words, asked those gathered to remember her, to honor her by voting,” Tami Sawyer wrote.
Hooks said that message carries particular weight now, at a time when Black political power in Memphis and Shelby County is again at the center of local and state debate.
“The simple thing my stepfather asked was, ‘In the legacy, let’s not let this be a sign, a physical sign. Let’s continue to live in the spirit of Gladys Ann Sawyer,’” Hooks said. “But at minimum, exercising our right to vote.”
For Hooks, that call is inseparable from his mother’s own civil rights history — from her years as a student activist at Memphis State to her lifelong commitment to service.
“It’s important, especially in these trying times, that she was an avid voter,” Hooks said. “She’s got her own civil rights history.”
He said the same communities now worried about redistricting and diminished representation still have power — if they use it.
“I don’t think the average person realizes that the answer to the dismantling of our voter rights with this redistricting — if the majority of the Black folks would exercise their vote, we could get these seats back,” Hooks said. “We could end up with three seats instead of just one.”
Then, he added the warning plainly: “They’re counting on us not voting. They’re counting on us voting at 20 percent here.”
That, Hooks said, is where the sign’s deeper meaning rests — not only in remembering Gladys Ann Hunter Sawyer, but in carrying forward the civic discipline and community responsibility she modeled.
“So that’s where my focus and spirit lies,” Hooks said. “Doing something in honor of her legacy. And this is a reminder that I’ve got to stay focused on that.”
