~ IN MEMORY ~
Jo Anne McLawhorn Padgett, wife of DL Capt.
Doug Padgett
AUGUST 4, 1936 – DECEMBER 27, 2022
Our group has been notified with news of the
passing of Jo Anne Padgett, wife of retired Delta Air Lines pilot and Delta
Golden Wings member Captain Douglas M. Padgett.
Obituary information is available online at
https://www.dignitymemorial.com/en-ca/obituaries/sandy-springs-ga/jo-anne-padgett-11081699
also at Jo Padgett Obituary (1936 - 2022) - Sandy Springs, GA -
Atlanta Journal-Constitution (legacy.com)
Memorial Service : January 21, 2023 at 1:00
pm
JOHNSON FERRY BAPTIST CHURCH
955 Johnson Ferry Rd., Marietta, GA 30068
Condolences may be sent to the family at :
125 RIVER COURT PKWY NW, SANDY SPRINGS GA 30328-1103
Thank you,
~ Carol for the PCN
Obituary of Jo Anne McLawhorn Padgett
IN THE CARE OF H.M. Patterson &
Son-Arlington Chapel
Jo Anne McLawhorn Padgett, 86 of Sandy
Springs, died peacefully at Northside Hospital on December 27, 2022. The
funeral service will be held on January 21 at 1:00 p.m. at Johnson Ferry
Baptist Church, with burial at Georgia National Cemetery in Canton, Georgia the
day before, January 20, at 2:30 p.m. Jo Anne, affectionately known as JoJo to
her grandchildren, was a bright presence in every life around her. Whether you
knew her as a sister, mother, grandmother, aunt, cousin, or friend, she
manifested her affection and love in her labor, her words, and her brilliant
smile.
Jo Anne was born on August 4, 1936, in
Winterville, North Carolina, the fourth of four daughters of Dennis Torbet
McLawhorn and Madge Jenkins McLawhorn. Jo Anne always recalled her early years
with great fondness--a happy childhood that began in a small farm house with no
in-door plumbing, but also no lack of warmth and affection. Apart from the
plumbing, it was a childhood she would later replicate in many ways for own
kids--full of music and play, faith and friendship. She was a faithful member
of Winterville Baptist Church–a devotion that lasted, in many ways, her whole
life. She attended Winterville High School, where she played varsity basketball
and was the salutatorian of her class. She attended Duke University, where she
sang in the Duke Chapel Choir and was a member of Phi Mu Sorority. While at
Duke she also met her future husband, Douglas M. Padgett (Doug), and became the
Sweetheart of his fraternity, Kappa Sigma. She graduated with an A.B. in June
1958 and a Masters of Arts in Teaching in June 1959.
Following Duke, Jo Anne taught school in
Melbourne. Florida, while Doug completed pilot training. She married Doug on
October 22, 1960 at Winterville Baptist Church. The young couple spent a few
months crisscrossing the county as Doug completed his United States Air Force
pilot training, but eventually settled in Warner Robins, Georgia, with two
Siamese cats. The early years were not always easy for a young Air Force
couple. Their first child was stillborn in 1962. But more children quickly
followed, and in 1966, Doug took a job at Delta Air Lines and the young family
moved to Atlanta.
Over the decades, as her four children grew,
Jo Anne did as well. As a wife and a mother, from Warner Robins to south-west
Atlanta to Sandy Springs, she pursued a life of engagement and dedication to
others, at church, in gardening and historical societies, in entertaining and
social life. Her marriage was her foundation and Doug her greatest support–they
were partners in family and friendship. She was always on the move, involved
and engaged–baking in the kitchen, delivering those baked goods to her friends
and family, attending to the details of family life and life in community. Her
children and grandchildren’s many sporting, choral, or theater events were
mandatory appointments–she refused to miss a single one. She loved her cats and
dogs almost as much as her people and the feelings were reciprocated; when Jo
Anne visited with her grandchildren, their dog, Ginger, would sit in JoJo’s lap
for hours.
Jo Anne had been raised with a commitment to
making a home for her family and all that that implies--cultural and art
education, a creative dedication to good food and good fun, a delicate grace in
all her relations, faith and a principled ethics–and she imparted those values
to all around her. Jo Anne was never one just to partake and enjoy–she
dedicated time and effort to her interests and causes, just as she did for
family and friends. She loved her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ and was a
devoted member of her church and weekly Bible Study. She sang in the choir of
every church she served in. She was also a founding member of the Riverside
North Garden Club and a member of the Daughters of the American Revolution, the
Colonial Dames of America, the Sandy Springs Society, the Phi Mu and Duke
alumni associations, and many other organizations, and supported these groups
in every way she could.
The world was full of joy and beauty for Jo
Anne and she shared that joy and beauty with others. She loved gardens and
gardening and raised her children to share that love, growing tomatoes, carrots,
strawberries, blueberries, and flowers. Her hill of daffodils is a sight to
behold every February. She passed on her devotion to reading–especially
who-done-its–and oh how she relished a good TV mystery! Her daring culinary and
cosmetic adventures are the stuff of local legend. She could spend hours
enjoying the process of both. She delighted in all kinds of theater–from
puppets to Broadway. Her love of music, particularly choral music, captured her
early and never let go, and she sought it out as a singer and in concerts in
Atlanta and around the world.
As a hostess, she excelled. Whether it was
the garden club Thanksgiving lunch, a Sunday school party, a dinner for a
relative’s engagement, or the family Christmas white elephant party,
entertaining was a kind of service and way of expressing her love and appreciation
for all around her. Her home, the Padgett house, was open to all– a refuge for
her friends and family, and her childrens’ and grandchildrens’ friends and
family, to visit (or live in), always open and always warm and, for many
cousins and nephews and nieces, especially, a place for fun.
Her spirit of adventure took her far beyond
the confines of Georgia. She loved to travel and thrived on the road. Trips
early on with her family were a pleasure–though probably no relief from the
obligations of motherhood. But traveling with her husband or with friends or
her sisters–whether across the country or across the globe–energized her and
excited her. She was always ready to hit the road with Doug!
Her family and friends remember her and
honor her now, for her integrity, her faith, her enthusiasm, her effort, and
the transformational joy she worked in the small part of the world she called
her own. She will be greatly missed.
Jo Anne is survived by Doug, her husband of
62 years; four children, Douglas M. Padgett, Jr. and wife, Marsha Massey, of
Washington, DC, Marianne Trapnell and husband, Michael, of Marietta, Georgia,
Paul M. Padgett II, and his wife, Dana, of Seattle, and Elizabeth Denyse
Padgett Henry and husband, David, of Marietta; and eight grandchildren:
Elizbeth Trapnell, Anne Morgan Trapnell, Sarah Trapnell, Rebekah Trapnell, Max
Padgett, Mark Padgett, Eloise Padgett, and Julian Padgett. She is also survived
by one sister, Denyse McLawhorn Smith of Robersonville, NC, 13 nieces and
nephews and their spouses, and many cousins, and great nieces and nephews. She
was preceded in death by two beloved sisters, Mamie McLawhorn Dews and Gay
McLawhorn Love.
In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be
made in Jo Anne’s honor at the following organizations: Johnson Ferry Baptist
Church, designation: Global Ministries (https://www.johnsonferry.org/, click on
“Give” or Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, designation: Global Ministries, ATTN:
Business Office, 955 Johnson Ferry Road, Marietta, GA 30068), or the Sandy Springs
Society (https://sandyspringssociety.org/donations/general-donation/ or P.O.
Box 720074 Sandy Springs, Georgia 30358).
