Mother, son get master’s degrees

A month or so ago, Gisele Landers-Smith sat with her husband and parents and watched her boy get a master’s degree in civil engineering.

It was her graduation day, too, but, well, Briean, the son, had always come first and there was no reason to change now.

This was the day they’d looked forward to, a kind of grand finale to a promise made when he was still in middle school.

She was a 21-year-old sophomore at DeKalb Community College and working full time when she found herself pregnant. On Nov. 27, 1983, the Sunday after Thanksgiving, she gave birth to Briean Griggs.

“I knew right away,” she said, “I had to become an adult.”

Landers-Smith didn’t return to college but she continued to work to provide for herself and her newborn. Times were tough but with the help of her parents and supportive siblings she managed to persevere. In 1989, when Briean was 5, she married her son’s father but things soon went sour. She filed for divorce, and two years later she and Briean were on their own again.

She took a part-time job to supplement her full-time income at Norfolk Southern. Sometimes, just to make sure her son had every opportunity children with two parents had, she worked three jobs.

“I didn’t want him to work,” Gisele said recently. “I wanted him to focus on school.”

Very early on, the two of them made a pact: They’d each get graduate degrees.

She enrolled Briean in private schools. By age 6, she knew he’d become an engineer because, she said, “everybody brought their bikes to our house for him to fix.”

Meanwhile, Briean excelled in both academics and athletics, playing basketball and running track and cross-country. Wherever he was and whatever he was doing, Landers-Smith was there.

“She didn’t miss anything,” Briean said, “not even awards banquets.”

He graduated from Stockbridge High School in 2002 and headed to Morehouse College on a partial academic scholarship.

Landers enrolled in a bartending class to supplement her income, sometimes driving as far away as Macon for jobs.

“I left work on Friday at Norfolk Southern, stopped home in Stockbridge, drove to Macon and bartended until morning,” she remembered.

She knew what society thought of black single mothers and she did everything in her power to be the opposite. When people looked at her, she wanted them to see someone who was hardworking, who was dependable and who valued education.

On May 23, 2005, Gisele married Dewey Smith and eventually moved to Smyrna. Shortly after marriage, she completed work on a bachelor of science degree in management.

Then on Dec. 13, they fulfilled the promise. Landers-Smith earned a master’s in organizational leadership from Shorter College in Rome.

Her son, who completed a dual degree program, earned bachelor of sciences degrees in general science and architectural engineering from Morehouse and his master’s in civil engineering from North Carolina Agricultural &Technical State University.

“Life,” they said, “couldn’t be better.”

gstaples@ajc.com