Fannie Reid Mann, daughter of Lindsay Mann and Irene O'Connell Mann, was born on July 29, 1909 in the Cokesbury community of Harnett County, North Carolina. As a child, Fannie Reid enjoyed many outdoor games on the rolling hills of their farm with her many brothers and sisters. She was quite daring and was particularly fond of following along in her brother Buck's footsteps. Buck taught her how to drive a car when she was 14 which was not an easy feat in those days. As she grew into her teen years, she had many responsibilities in helping to run the household. Fannie Reid became a good cook and was well known for her chocolate pies and cakes. She also helped look after her younger siblings, Mary Joyce and Sadie.
Even though she had a lot of responsibilities, she had time for academics and graduated as valedictorian of her high school class. This is not to say that she didn't have fun as well. Many are the stories told about all the antics that went on around the farm especially when oft times work was turned into some kind of game. Fannie Reid's biggest responsibility came later when her mother became very ill with cancer. She nursed and tended her mother until her mother passed away.
Fannie Reid met Len H. Aiken at Lafayette High School where he was playing the piano for an event there. Fannie Reid thought Len H. was funny bouncing up and down on a piano stool. After the event was over, however, someone managed to get the two of them together, and she and Len courted for the next four years. Len H. used to say that she was prissy and that she took prissy little, quick steps. He was quite fond of her, their courtship took off, and they were married at the Methodist minister's parsonage in Fuquay Springs on March 11, 1929.
Fannie Reid and Len H. had 4 children: Walter, Frances, Mary Lynn and Julia, Len H.'s occupation was farming, and Fannie Reid assisted him with the farming for many years. In 1952 she took a sales job at Hudson-Belk and then Kelsers in Fuquay until the store burned. Fannie Reid loved the Methodist Church and held many leadership positions in the church as well as teaching Sunday School classes. She enjoyed being a grade mother in her children's school, particularly chaperoning such things as cookouts. She was a member of the Ladies Auxiliary and held several offices in this organization as well as helping out in their many service projects. Fannie Reid was well known in the community for her ready willingness to help anyone who was ill or in need of help in the community.
Fannie Reid's husband, Len H., died in 1970. She remained a widow for the next 13 years. Toward the end of her life she became ill with cancer and lived with her son, Walter, and his wife, Joyce, until her death on October 27, 1983.