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Marguerite Elizabeth Clinton
6/18/1923 - 5/13/2004
- click for the Athens Banner-Herald Obituary -

There was no one on earth like her.

Her Legacy: The 14 Great-Grandchildren, 5/14/2004
(click for larger image)

Farewell to an Early Riser

Farewell Early Riser, thou good and faithful servant.
How bittersweet the sound of last remembrances,
Told to rolling thunder and the piper's call.
Early to rise to our nation's call.
Semper Fidelis Tommy, and aircraft machinist's mate!
And then later to be, steadfast and sure,
The platoon leader that kept the Winterville Irregulars in line.

The greatest generation is leaving us,
A thousand a day they say.
History holds it was Franklin and Winston who saved the world.
But it was you, the Class of '40 and your schoolmates.
You were the ones that bled, toiled, and cried;
Sweating to carry the load, and then to pick up the pieces.
I wanted to tell you of Asheville's Bob Morgan and the Memphis Belle,
For you are kindred spirits for sure.
But you flew away too soon.

It was Tommy who brought home blue jeans,
And not a dress, or so the story goes.
What did Ms. Dolly, the gracious Southern lady, say?
Although I never knew him,
I know Robert Ingram's face smiled a father's smile.
Friday the thirteenth may be unlucky by some,
But fortune's smile surrounded that first date.

By the time we met, you held St. Mary's midnight watch.
Always true to the Corps, by watching over the little ones,
Before their time, and barely able to fend on their own.
You knew it then, and we know it now,
Intense love, compassion and care,
These are the real miracles of medicine.

Quick with a quip, but quicker with a smile.
Thousands of crosswords, but never a cross word.
(Well, perhaps a few for oblivious referees.)
Always music, and always with a heart tuned to sing with grace.
Every note, and every word, carols and hymns, and songs by Glenn and Nat,
Unforgettable, kept in the heart, safe from memory's thief.
Early to rise on those later mornings, one so much like another.
Some of us not knowing at first, the warmth of shelter in the familiar,
And in the friendly faces at the breakfast booth.

Early to rise on the thirteenth of May.
For Barkus was willing for the return to Baja.
Rest peacefully Early Riser, knowing the spirit goes on,
Carried by those who keep I Corinthians Thirteen.
For coincidences may be God's way of remaining anonymous.

Rick Wooten

In Memory of Marguerite Elizabeth "Tommy" Clinton
June 18, 1923 to May 13, 2004

The following text is a fair representation of the comments Greg shared about Mom during the farewell service on May 16. A great deal more could be said.
She was wonderful.

"Mom Loved"
Farewell Service 5/16/2004
Marguerite Elizabeth Clinton
6/18/1923 - 5/13/2004

I drove in silence about half of the way home Friday night, just reflecting. Finally it occurred to me there might be a Braves game on, so I turned on the radio to WSB. But as the game came on, I found myself thinking about how Mom loved the Braves and, of course, the Bulldogs. That set me off to thinking about all the different things Mom loved. I didn’t concentrate on the game too well.

At the risk of leaving out something important, I thought I should share with you some of the things that Mom loved.

She loved:

The Atlanta Braves and the Georgia Bulldogs (of course).

Chocolate Peanut-Butter ice cream at Hodgson’s.

Slawdogs at Add Drug Store. Our "usual" when we ate lunch together was a slaw dog each, an order of french fries to share, and two waters.

The Raspberry cake served at the Lumpkin café (as do we all).

A good cup of black coffee in the morning.

The five points Waffle House and the regular early morning circle of friends she would see there on a daily basis.

She loved having her shoulders rubbed or her back scratched. She would take on this heavenly expression in her face and say, “Purr, purr.”

Crossword puzzles. This was a daily actiivity.

Reading, especially novels, especially murder mysteries. She was a voracious reader, and an active library patron. She read thousands of books in her lifetime.

Perry Mason, Murder She Wrote, MASH 4077.

Mt. Rainier. She called it “my mountain” and looked forward to seeing it again every time she and Dad had a chance to visit Toni and Rick in Washington.

Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic, where she was a faithful volunteer for many years.

Sketching and watercolor painting. She actively pursued both in her younger years, and later on she sketched many, many portraits of newborn babies at St. Mary’s hospital, where she worked in the neonatal intensive care nursery. She also took up and enjoyed china painting, thanks to some influence from “The Master,” our cousin Jane Bowen.

Recycling cans.

Nat King Cole and great music of almost every sort.

Singing and memorizing songs.

Poetry and memorizing poems.

Learning, especially all things medical.

Hiking and other outdoor acitivies.

National Geographic magazine. She had quite a collection of these.

Her roses and her azaleas, and all things green and growing.

Airplanes, especially the classic World War II models.

[She wasn’t your stereotypical “opinionated” person, but she did have her own point of view about many things. She would have been hard to pigeon hole as far as her political views were concerned. She favored gun control. She seemed to have a basically pro-life view. She voted for Jimmy Carter, and then later she loved Ronald Reagan. She loved the environment and hated overdevelopment. (This paragraph was omitted at the funeral service.)]

She adored the U.S. Marines. (She was in the Women's Marines during World War II, where she met her lifelong husband, our dad.)

She didn’t wear her love for God on her sleeve, but you could see it in her actions, and in her eyes when she sang hymns and spiritual songs.

She dearly loved Hebron Presbyterian Church in Banks County, Georgia, and its pastor, Gary West.

She was forever in love with her husband, and the two of them demonstrated this openly.

She loved supporting her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren in any way she could.

In short, Mom loved life, and she generally found a way to love everyone she met.

Mom was one of the great human beings on the face of the earth. Of all those who knew her, I never met, or even heard of, anyone who did not love her.

Thank you, Mom, for being such a wonderful mother and friend.

On the day she entered the hospital for the last time, different ones of us gathered in as soon as we could. We were to learn soon that Mom, who already had Alzheimer’s disease and a serious heart condition, had been bleeding outside of her brain on the right side – a subdural hematoma. When my turn came to see her in the emergency room, I went in with Sun and Mardee and Gary. I saw Mom respond to Gary with a smile and a characteristic little chuckle. She couldn’t speak clearly, but she would at least smile and try to respond to her loved ones. In my case, after greeting her, I stroked her head and spoke to her for a few minutes. She very clearly and unmistakably said “Purr, purr.” These were the last words she spoke to me.

- Greg Clinton, May 16, 2004

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