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Lizzer Bright Graham '77
 When someone meets Lizzer Graham for the first time, two questions arise: "Where did you get the nickname?" and, as is commonly asked of anyone, "What do you do?"
The answer to the first is that her older brother George pinned it on her when she was four, and she’s been unable to shake it since.
To the second, she sometimes replies whimsically, "I’m a domestic engineer."
That’s code for "stay-at-home mom," a title that seems a misnomer in Lizzer’s case. On a typical day, she’s involved with one or more community volunteer assignments in positions that range from board member to president, and she’s shuttling one or more of her three young children and their friends to classes and to after-school activities.
If those on-the-road assignments weren’t enough to juggle, she spent the spring of 2004 keeping website tabs on husband Scott who was nine thousand miles away on a successful two-month quest to climb Mt. Everest in the Himalayas.
"I wouldn’t trade staying at home for the world; I think it’s hugely important," says Lizzer, who worked as a copywriter and designer in the advertising world until her second child was born. "Working outside the home is awesome," she says, "but I’m fortunate to be able to do what I do."
Her vocation is parenting Jones, 16; Lucy, 14; and Nicki, 10, while serving organizations that range from the Children’s Home, which provides subsidized 24-hour day-care service to the community; to her children’s elementary school, where she has been a longtime board member and PTA president; to GPS, where she served as Alumnae Association president and co-chair of the annual VISIONS fund-raising event before stepping in to the role of trustee.
"The talent I see on local boards is incredible," she says. "I’m convinced that many of these volunteers could run Fortune 500 companies."
Community service comes naturally to Lizzer. It has been a hallmark of her family life and was reinforced by her school.
Her father, Fletcher Bright, has been a trustee of McCallie School, his alma mater, and longtime trustee and board president of The Bright School, which was founded by his aunt. In addition, he has assisted dozens of local civic organizations and provided musical outreach through his participation as a fiddler in the popular bluegrass ensemble, The Dismembered Tennesseans.
Lizzer’s mother, the late Marshall Soyars Bright, was a board member of Children’s Home, president of Junior League and active in her church- the latter a tradition Lizzer has maintained by teaching Sunday School class at Church of the Good Shepherd on Lookout Mountain and serving as a member of the Altar Guild.
Also following her mother’s lead in attending GPS, Lizzer was a member of the Menehunees, a Middle School service society, and the Service League, where she was involved in volunteer activities in the Upper School. She was elected to the Student Council and admitted to the National Honor Society.
Her six years at GPS are filled with pleasant recollections, one reason she found herself donating eight years of volunteer effort to the school before her oldest daughter, Lucy, was ever enrolled.
One of her fondest memories is of Sophie Campion, an exchange student from Belgium who spent her senior year living with Lizzer’s family while attending GPS.
"I credit GPS for having the depth of understanding to take in a foreign student like that," Lizzer says. "Sophie participated in May Day and graduated with our class. Her presence was so enriching for us."
It could be amusing and enlivening as well. Sophie loved Buds, a local hamburger place that she and her classmates frequented on weekends, where she amused everyone with her idioms and accent. After their GPS days, Lizzer and several classmates visited Sophie in Brussels where she was a decorator, and Sophie returned to Chattanooga for the class’s 25th reunion, her two sons in tow.
"Friendships you form at that age are some of the strongest you’ll ever make," notes Lizzer. "I still consider a handful of classmates among my best friends."
As a volunteer who has spent time on the GPS campus, she views scenes that please her. "I watched eighth and ninth graders playing ring-around-the-rosy on the lawn," she says. "They’re still young girls, and it’s neat that they can do that. It’s the camaraderie that develops when your’re not thinking about being cool," she notes of the single-sex environment. "I wouldn’t trade that for anything."
She believes that through its menu of offerings, the school does "an outstanding job of helping every girl find her niche, whether it’s academics or sports or extracurricular activities."
Lizzer Graham has found her own niche, one she wouldn’t change for the world.
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