Matriarch Fanny “Jo” Grinage was just honored at her 90th birthday party at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. She received an honorary degree from Medgar Evers College at her 90th birthday party Jan. 12. She will also march with the graduating class in May. The president of Medgar Evers College and the Provost are delighted.

Casting her in the love spotlight are her children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, brother, brother-in-law, nieces and nephews, cousins and a host of extended family and friends.

Jo was born in Wadesboro, N.C. in 1929, to the late Rev. Walter and Eva Steele Staten. She was the sixth of eight children. When she was 7 years old, the family migrated North. Like so many others, they had endured as much, of the Jim Crow South as they could stand. They settled in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Jo was enrolled in Public School 3, where she excelled and was skipped from the third to the fourth grade. She attended public School 54 and Prospect Heights High School as well.

Early on, Jo exhibited talent for vocal performance. When singing, she was in her element. She married John Grinage when she was 16, and their union lasted just short of 73 years before his transition. From this union came three daughters—Lana (Anzora Solomon), Linda (Haziine Eytina) and Lois (Ajuba Bartley). Jo and John also raised their oldest granddaughter, Dakeeta Hatcher.

Jo was a devoted mother and wife who put her family first. She emphasized the importance of education and was stickler for proper diction in her home. Her children were taught early on to embrace and be proud of their African heritage. When they chose to wear their hair natural, it was seen among some as an act of social defiance. However, Flo and John were unequivocally supportive. They were fiercely independent thinkers who lived their lives with dignity. Both were always impeccably groomed.

Jo worked at Woolworth’s and later at Macy’s while her children were growing up. She also worked as a paraprofessional in the New York City Department of Education for 34 years, before retiring in 1995.

However, while working, Jo’s passion for singing continued. She attended classes at the Juilliard School of Music in the mid-1970s as well as the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music. She would perform at Mount Morris Park in Harlem after the Marcus Garvey Day Parade, sponsored by the African Nationalist Movement and the African Jazz Arts Society, which showcased models with natural hair (Grandassa Models). She performed for the School of Common Sense, headed by Sonny Carson, aka Abubadika and Jim Cuffe. She also headed a parade with Max Roach in protest of the killing of four young Black girls in a church bombing in Birmingham, Ala.

Jo sang at Malcolm X’s grave for several years in the 1970s, invited by Ms. Yuri Kochyiama. She appeared at the Five Spot in the Village with Paul Chambers, Wynton Kelly, Kenny Durham and Jimmy Cobb. Jo was a Miles Davis protégé. She appeared at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with the late Hilton Ruiz, Roland Alexander and Scoby Stroman.

She was the opening act for the comedian Rodney Dangerfield, accompanied by Jo Knight, Basil Davis and Scoby Stroman. She performed at the Supper Club, Greenstreet. During the early 1970s, she released two albums, “Ode to Kim” and “Mothers Love Song.”

From 1986 to 1988, Jo attended Medgar Evers College, where she met and befriended Dr. Betty Shabazz. Dr. Shabazz saw promise in her and served as her mentor. Before having met Dr. Shabazz, Jo had taken to hear Malcolm X years earlier at Downstate Hospital’s construction site.

Cultural enrichment was a priority to Jo and her family. She took her children to see the great Louie Armstrong at Town Hall, as well as Ray Charles, Sarah Vaughn and George Shearing at the Apollo, and Alvin Ailey in Central Park.

What we know her for is being a good wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, sister, sister-in-law, aunt, cousin and friend. May God bless you and keep your nurturing light shining ever brightly.

Thanks to the Creator for the gift of you. We love you always.