GAINESVILLE — Just the mention of Ruby Brawner’s name can lift your spirits and put a smile on your face.

That’s because during her 53 years in Gainesville, Brawner has made a large impression — from volunteering for Meals on Wheels and the Northeast Georgia Medical Center to helping spread the gospel to women in prison.

But her favorite pastime is probably the Gainesville Prayer Band, which she has served as the president since 1983.

"The more you do, the better you feel," said Brawner, a member of Antioch Baptist Church. "That’s what I have learned in my 75 years."

Today, Brawner celebrates her birthday with about 250 of her friends and family at First Baptist Church of Gainesville.

"I didn’t realize that folks would do that for me ... it’s the way you live is the way you get folks to respond back to you," Brawner said. "If you treat folks right, folks will treat you right. I try to treat everybody how I want to be treated myself. So far it has paid off."

Brawner’s four daughters, who all live in Gainesville, organized the milestone celebration for their mother.

"Well, my mama was a hard worker," said Shirley Stephens, one of Brawner’s daughters. "She really worked and sacrificed for her children. She was the glue that kept our family together. She always made sure that her children went to school and that we were going to finish school."

Stephens added that along with the importance of school in the Brawner home, her mother has always been a giver.

"She has just always been there for us every time," she said. "Even since we have been grown, she has been there for us and been there for the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A lot of times she has neglected herself and things that she really needed to make sure her family had."

Other children include Carolyn Milsap, Sandra Harris, Yonnah Stovall and son the Rev. Wallace Brawner Jr. of Louisville, Ky. Ruby Brawner also has eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.

Brawner was married for 32 years to her late husband Wallace Brawner.

There will be several special guests attending today’s party, including Brawner’s former pastor, the Rev. Mark Thomas, from Black Springs Baptist Church in Commerce; Lynn Allen of the Northeast Georgia Medical Center Auxiliary; and Hall County Sheriff Steve Cronic.

"What I would say about Ruby is that she is one of the sweetest people that I have ever met," said Cronic, who has known Brawner for eight years. "She is someone that truly lives up to what a devoted Christian example should be, and personally she is my hero."

Brawner had a special gratitude for Cronic since his tenure as sheriff began.

"I have been on Blacks Drive 50 long years," Brawner said. "Since he has been sheriff, I can go to bed on the weekend and have me a good night’s sleep."

The Rev. Dr. Bill Coates met Brawner through her Prayer Band meetings at First Baptist Church and they have become close friends through their faith.

"Ruby Brawner is one of Gainesville’s true treasures," Coates said. "She loves God and her fellow human beings and is one of the great unifiers of our community. Much of what she does is behind the scenes, so, he said, she is one of the unsung heroes among us.

"I have found her to be of the great encouragers in my life and I value her friendship enormously. She embodies those triple virtues of faith, hope and love."

Coates added that "she cooks the best collard greens ever!"

The Prayer Band, which has between 15 and 20 members, meets at First Baptist once a year, along with 11 other churches. And when Brawner took over the group, after founder Blanche Alexander passed away in 1983, she decided to make a few changes.

Brawner set out to break racial barriers in Gainesville when she took the helm. She began asking ministers at traditionally white churches to let the Prayer Band meet monthly there, too.

"I was persistent; after I got in one door, I would try another until we had (six) white churches," Brawner said during a 2007 interview.

The Rev. John Lee Taylor, the former pastor at First Baptist on Green Street, was the first pastor of a traditionally white church to allow the group to meet in the church facility in 1995.

Today the Gainesville Prayer Band divides its time throughout the year between six historically black churches and six historically white churches.

Brawner takes her Sunday ministry with her throughout the week by being "a witness for the truth," she said.

As she walks through the hospital delivering mail and as she is ministering to women in prison, Brawner said she is always thanking Jesus.

"They will be just so down and out and I go down the steps and I say ‘Lord, thank you Jesus. That could be me,’" she said. "You have to think about yourself as it could be you; it’s just by the grace of God that it is not us."

And while many folks know Brawner through her work in the community, just as many recognize her by her famous "truly" exclamations during Sunday worship.

"I just want to be a witness for the truth, that’s all," she said. "I picked it up going to church. I would say ‘truly’ when the preacher was preaching and especially when he’s reading the Bible and you know it’s true."