Gente de NAHJ: Romon Granger is just a country boy, and he likes it that way
At the towering Marriott in downtown New Orleans, Romon Granger can be seen wearing a slick blue button up shirt, beige slacks, a black Marriott branded hat and a row of gold teeth that gleam when he smiles.
He is the epitome of Southern hospitality. During the day he sets up conference room tables and greets guests with his toothy grin.
But when he leaves work at the cosmopolitan hotel, he drives 27 miles back home to the dense countryside where he lives.
Granger is a self described country boy. He comes from a family of farmers. His grandfather, a stonemason, bought a 120-acre plot of land in rural Mississippi in the 1950s. He farmed that land, and eventually passed it down to Granger’s parents. That house is where Granger spent most of his youth, learning how to be an outdoorsman.
The 42 -year-old manager moved from his home state to Louisiana for work. Roughly 9 years ago, Granger’s pastor, who also works at the hotel, helped him get the job.
“I love what I do,” Granger said. He added that he enjoys helping people however he can.
He owns a ranch in LaPlace, Louisiana, an area surrounded by dense forestry and swampland. During his free time, he indulges in what he calls “country boy-living stuff.”
He and his wife grow classic southern vegetables on the farm: cabbages, collard greens, sweet potatoes. He is also an avid hunter, searching his property and surrounding lake for rabbits and fish.
He works around city folk all day. But he would never trade his style of living.
“If the lights cut out, folks won’t know what to do,” Granger said. “I do.”
Ivan Saravia is a fifth-year student at Laney College in Oakland, California. Ivan served as co-editor in chief at The Peralta Citizen, where he covered local government and authored enterprise and investigative. He aspires to be an investigative reporter in the Bay Area, his hometown. Reach out to him at saraviaivan2005 [at] gmail [dot] com.
