Margaret Clendenin, 74, ‘first lady’ for BellSouth

Margaret Clendenin’s family gave her a nickname when her husband became the founding CEO of BellSouth Corp.

First lady.

It was a joke, but Mrs. Clendenin embraced the moniker and all it entailed. She, alongside John Clendenin, her husband of 54 years, represented the newly-created utility at civic affairs and functions.

“She was kind of the first of the BellSouth wives of chief executive officers,” her husband said. “She took a lot of kidding about being the first lady of BellSouth. We just had fun with it.”

Mrs. Clendenin assumed an active civic role partly due to her husband’s business career in Atlanta and elsewhere. At one time, he served as chairman of the United States Chamber of Commerce, which is based in Washington. Mrs. Clendenin balanced family duty in Atlanta with time spent attending the booster group’s marquee events in the nation’s capital.

“She did a great job,” her husband said.

Margaret Ann Clendenin, 74, of Atlanta, Winston and West Palm Beach, Fla., died Monday of liver cancer at Emory University Hospital. The funeral will be 2 p.m. Friday at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta. H.M. Patterson and Son, Arlington Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

The couple grew up in El Paso, Texas, where they were high school sweethearts. In college, they conducted a long-distance romance. He attended Northwestern University in Illinois; she studied at the University of Texas-El Paso. They married between his junior and senior year of college. After an Air Force stint, he embarked on a 42-year career in the telephone industry that included tours of duty in Illinois and New York.

The couple moved to Atlanta in 1981 when Mr. Clendenin became president of Southern Bell. Three years later, he was named founding CEO of BellSouth, the parent company of Southern Bell and South Central Bell. She supported him as he climbed the ladder.

Over the years, Mrs. Clendenin and her family became major supporters of Kennesaw State University. They recently donated $1 million for the establishment of the Clendenin Graduate Fellows Program. And in 1999, they contributed $1 million to build high-tech classrooms in the Ann and John Clendenin Computer Science Building.

“Even now, this building still probably has the most technologically-capable classrooms in Georgia,” said Laurence I. Peterson, dean of the college of science and mathematics at Kennesaw State.

In retirement, Mrs. Clendenin grew vegetables and tomatoes on the family farm in Winston, 40 miles west of Atlanta. She was a member of the AmaKanasta Garden Club in nearby Douglasville. Paula McClung of Winston befriended her.

“She would share some tomatoes and vegetables,” Mrs. McClung said, “but most of my time with Ann was spent on the tennis court. She was a wonderful player.”

Additional survivors include three daughters, Elizabeth Morris of Gainesville, Linda Clendenin of Powder Springs and Mary Kathryn Clendenin of Kennesaw; a son, Thomas Clendenin of Big Canoe; 11 grandchildren; and a great-grandchild.