(Editor’s Note: One of Gwinnett’s most gracious ladies, Margaret Elizabeth Sumner Tanner, died recently at age 103. We asked her daughter to pen memories of her mother. Here are her thoughts.—eeb)
By Rachel Bronnum | Oct. 6, 2015 | Margaret Elizabeth Sumner was born on January 8, 1912 in Shingler, a Worth County town in South Georgia. Until her death on September 11, 2015, Margaret was physically and mentally active. She swam at the YMCA in her Twinges in the Hinges class, participated in church groups, was chaplain of her Garden Club, and enjoyed being with people.
Margaret Tanner
A letter Margaret wrote after an accident exemplifies her indomitable spirit.
“To my dear children:
“A week ago (February 6, 2006), I had a very close call! Due to carelessness, just not thinking, I lost control of the car, wrecked it, but ended up alive, with no injuries! There’s no doubt in my mind that my guardian angel protected me. The Lord wanted me to live a little longer. Even if I’m 94 now, I was spared, and I don’t know why. Anyway, I’m very thankful to be here and I do thank Him every day.”
Margaret continued to drive until she was 99 years old and realized her license had expired. She reluctantly decided not to renew it.
She grew up in Worth County with her parents and three younger siblings. Her father, a doctor, sometimes let Margaret ride in his horse drawn buggy to make house calls. Dr. Sumner volunteered in 1918 for World War I and served in France as a Captain in the medical corps. After the war, the family lived in Poulan, Ga., near Tifton. Margaret graduated from high school in 1927and from Georgia State Woman’s College, now Valdosta State University, in 1931. She taught English and French until 1938. Had she taught one more year, Margaret would have earned one hundred dollars a month.
In the summer of 1937 Margaret enrolled in graduate school at the University of Georgia. Her roommate introduced Margaret to her brother, Herman Tanner. The romance flourished, they married in 1938, settled in Lawrenceville and had seven children: Rachel Tanner Bronnum, Bill Tanner, Peggy Tanner Weiss, Emily Tanner, Nancy Tanner Sloss, Marian Tanner and Dr. Susan Tanner.
Not long after Margaret married, the United States entered World War II. Margaret remembered participation in the war effort, planting Victory Gardens and sending CARE packages overseas. Margaret saved ration coupons to buy gas to visit her parents in South Georgia. The infrequent trips were fraught with uncertainty due to poor quality tires; most of the rubber supply went to the military.
Their growing family kept Margaret and Herman busy, but they both found time for church, school, and civic activities. Herman died in 1983 after a two year illness. Always independent, Margaret never asked anyone to do anything for her that she could do herself.
In later years, Margaret traveled and had a sense of wonder about each new place she visited. She liked to dance, and her son and five sons-in-law took turns on the dance floor. Margaret’s friends and family numbered over three hundred at her 100th birthday party, and she greeted them all by name. She was an inveterate reader.
Although she suffered ailments that accompany aging, Margaret remained an eternal optimist who began everyday with her favorite Bible verse: “This is the Day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it.”
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