CityView Magazine - Fayetteville, NC
Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/1294342
26 | October 2020 fascinating fayetteville Faces of Friendship S ometimes, you find yourself in unusual places in the name of friendship. Winnie McBryde Grannis may never have dreamed of visiting Seoul, Korea, but there she was on a 17-hour flight by herself in the mid 1990s, set to land in the midst of a city with a population of nearly 10 million. All in the name of visiting one of her dearest friends, Maureen McNeill, whose husband was stationed there. "I'd never been to Korea," Winnie said. "It was a big step for me." Aer all, true friendship sometimes moves you out of your comfort zone. It's a friendship that really had its origins along the hallways of Terry Sanford High School. Winnie was a hometown girl who had lived in Fayetteville all her life. Maureen, whose father, Gen. Edward M. Flanigan, was commander of Fort Bragg's JFK Center at the time, was accustomed to the new faces and new places that come with growing up in a military family. ough the Class of 1969 numbered some 560 students, the two recognized each other when, years later, their sons were in kindergarten together at e Fayetteville Academy. eirs is a bond forged over classroom parties and Boy Scout meetings. Maureen's husband Dan, a retired four-star general, served as commander of the 82nd Airborne Division and commander of Coalition Forces in Afghanistan from 2002 to 2003. His career brought the family to Fayetteville when their son Dan Jr., now 39, was in kindergarten. Winnie's husband, the late Ed Grannis, was in the midst of a 35- year career as Cumberland County District Attorney and their sons, McBryde and Whitaker, were about the same age as Dan Jr. e two couples and their boys became fast friends, traveling together, enjoying dinners together. Maureen was among those at Winnie's side when Ed died in 2015. eirs is a bond that has held fast. "It's just been an easy friendship," Winnie McBryde said. "We can always find something to talk about or do." True Friends Adapt Winnie Grannis and Maureen McNeill chat over lunch in the McNeill home