From a young age Jeannivée Guthrie had a passion for health and nutrition, which she translated into service and ministry here and abroad.
“It was forbidden for us to eat McDonald’s or drink Coca-Cola. It was always the healthy alternative,” said her daughter Jeannivée Danielle Guthrie-Fiorese of Monaco.
But that dedication to health didn’t stop at home.
“She developed a feeding program in South Africa,” her daughter said. Children “had issues with growing and it was basically because they were not getting the proper nutrition.”
She began her work in South Africa almost 20 years ago alongside her husband, Bishop Joseph Guthrie. Since then, her daughter said they have established the Guthrie Foundation.
“We went into schools as well as the church groups and we established, we did a community profile and established what the needs were,” said Louis Green of Cape Town, director of the Guthrie Foundation. “It wasn’t just feeding the child at school; it was also providing nutrition at the homes where you have maybe an unemployed parent or both unemployed.”
Green said he believes the feeding program’s influence on Cape Town has been tremendous. The organization’s work, which is run through local churches, has expanded to include rural farm schools, a Bible institute, helping to pay for school books and developing children’s reading and computer skills, he said.
“She also regularly handed out toys,” he said.
Jeannivée A. Guthrie, 66, of Fayetteville, died June 27 of complications from ovarian cancer. A funeral service is planned for Tuesday at 11 a.m. at First Mallalieu United Methodist Church. Willie A. Watkins Funeral Home, Inc. is handling arrangements.
Guthrie, who studied holistic nutrition at Clayton College of Natural Health, was as much a woman of God as a woman of service. She and her husband worked as a team for the past 35 years to lead their church, the First Apostolic Church of East Point.
The church started small, sharing space with other ministries, according to longtime member of the congregation Carmen Williams, but grew because of the environment.
“It was very small but people began to come and the church began to grow and I think what really stood out, whenever anybody came they just felt the love and they just felt comfortable there,” she said.
Guthrie-Fiorese said her mother was a truly selfless woman with excellent organizational skills who loved God, believed in the power of prayer and never met a stranger.
“Anything you needed my mom was always there,” she said. “You could always count on her.”
In addition to her daughter and her husband of almost 40 years, Guthrie is survived by her brother, Michael Zenon of Los Angeles; sister, Yolanda Zenon of Los Angeles; sons, David L. Guthrie of Atlanta and Marcus A. Guthrie of Fairburn; daughter, JoHanna D. Guthrie-Galavotti of France; and nine grandchildren.
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