My mom called me about Mr. Grizzard this morning, I'm out here in Singapore and it still stopped me. Emporia Country Club wasn't the same without him walking the back nine.
Their story
Amos Pope Grizzard, Jr. was not a celebrity in the usual sense, but a man whose long life of quiet service and local devotion touched the people around him in Emporia, Virginia, and later Alpharetta, Georgia. He was born on July 9, 1946, in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Amos…
Amos Pope Grizzard, Jr. was not a celebrity in the usual sense, but a man whose long life of quiet service and local devotion touched the people around him in Emporia, Virginia, and later Alpharetta, Georgia. He was born on July 9, 1946, in Richmond, Virginia, the son of Amos Pope Grizzard, Sr. and Hazel Faison Grizzard, and he carried his father's name into a life defined by duty, family, and a lifelong love of golf.
After graduating from Southampton High School and Paul D. Camp Community College, Grizzard served in the United States Air Force. Following his military service, he built a career of more than three decades with the Virginia Department of Corrections, work that, while rarely making headlines, formed the backbone of his adult life and placed him among the generations of public servants who kept the state's correctional system running.
Outside of work, Grizzard was best known in his community as an avid golfer. He was a lifetime member of the Emporia Country Club, where he served as club president and sat on its board, and where he was proud to have recorded five holes in one over the years. For those who knew him through the club, golf was less a pastime than a second home, a place where friendships were made and sustained across decades.
Grizzard was married to Jacqueline Ols Grizzard for 52 years before her death, a partnership that friends and family remembered as the center of his life. He is survived by his son, Michael Grizzard, and daughter in law, Karen Grizzard, by grandchildren Colin and Emily Grizzard, and by his sister, Rebecca Harvell, and brother in law, Randy Harvell.
Amos Pope Grizzard, Jr. died on July 20, 2026, at his residence in Alpharetta, Georgia, at the age of 80. No cause of death has been made public. His passing was announced through an obituary published by Echols Funeral Home, which described him as a devoted family man, veteran, and longtime pillar of the Emporia Country Club community. A graveside service is scheduled to be held at Greensville Memorial Cemetery in Emporia, Virginia, on November 7, 2026, where friends and family will gather to lay him to rest.
There is no indication that Grizzard sought or received wider public recognition beyond his community, and no Wikipedia article or broad news coverage exists about his life. This page draws on his published obituary and the obituary notices that followed his death, and it will be updated if further information about his life and passing becomes publicly available.
Biography adapted from News reports and the sources cited on this page; death reported by Legacy | Obituary.

Five holes in one, imagine that.