Everything about Hope Herrington was memorable. From her ability to take what she had and make it work to her penchant for saving, and using, everything.
“Her washing machine drained into the yard when I met her in the ‘70s,” said former Atlanta neighbor Nancy Goodyear. “She used that water for other things outside. She didn’t waste a thing.”
Mrs. Herrington was a child during the Great Depression and learned a lot about making the most of what was available, said her daughter, Ashley Herrington of Atlanta.
“As careful as mom was with her resources, she was also very generous with what she had,” Ms. Herrington said of her mother.
Hope June King Hardegree Herrington, of Atlanta, died Aug. 29 after a brief period of declining health. She was 82. Her body was cremated and a memorial service will be held at a later date. Advantage Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Lilburn, was in charge of arrangements.
“If you met her, you’d never forgot her,” Ms. Goodyear said. “And I mean that. She made an impression on everyone she met. Everything about Hope was kind of cool and funky.”
As a youth she attended what was Young Harris Academy, her daughter said. She didn’t go to college, but she was very well read.
“She hated school, but she loved to learn,” Ms. Herrington said of her mother. “She was always reading something.”
Her three favorite magazines were Ms., Mother Jones, and Popular Mechanics, her daughter said, adding, “she was totally feminine, but not afraid to build a deck, tear out a wall or anything like that.”
Mrs. Herrington married and divorced twice. Her first husband, Guy Hardegree, she married in 1946 and the couple had four children. They divorced in 1958 and she spent a couple of years as a single mom, working as a florist at Harper’s Flowers and as a model at what was the Atlanta College of Art. It was at the art school that she met her second husband, Pat Herrington. They shared a daughter, and a deep love and appreciation for the arts. They divorced in the ‘80s, but remained good friends, and even spent a lot of time together over the last couple of years, and moreso in her last days, their daughter said.
“She was truly a free spirit,” Ms. Goodyear said. “She always said ‘If I can’t go anymore, I’ll be ready to go,’ and I guess she was ready.”
Mrs. Herrington is also survived by her sons, Guy Hardegree Jr. of Sharpsburg, and James Hardegree of Atlanta; and daughter, Martha Ann “Marty” H. Connerly of McDonough; her sister Ernest D. Kight of Conyers; brother, John King of Bryson City, N.C.; and three grandchildren.
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