Even at 93, it wasn’t unusual to find Margaret George getting up in the morning to check her email and respond to family and friends.
The retired Emory University business clerk, who was also an amateur photographer, would also go online to research flowers that interested her and do genealogical research.
While it might be hard for some observers to believe Miss George was so adept at surfing the Web at her age, this was part of her daily routine up until her death a week ago, said her nephew, Frank Jacks of Stone Mountain.
“It wasn’t that she was interested in the computer but what the computer could do for her in engaging her more fully in her interests,” Mr. Jacks said.
Margaret Helen George of Decatur died Jan. 7 after a brief illness, her family said. A graveside service with military honors will be held at noon Saturday at Westview Cemetery, followed by a memorial service at Decatur Presbyterian Church. A.S. Turner and Sons is handling arrangements.
Miss George, born June 4, 1918, grew up on her grandfather’s farm in Vinings, near what is now Cumberland Mall. She had 18 other siblings and half-siblings.
Years after graduating from Smyrna High School, she followed two of her brothers’ footsteps into the military, serving in the Women’s Army Corp where she decoded messages during World War II. .
After military service, Miss George returned to the family farm to take care of her aging parents, William and Florence George. She later moved to Decatur in 1961 and joined the business office at Emory, where she worked for the next 40 years sorting mail. She was still employed at Emory in 1998 when she turned 80.
An “Emory Report” at the time marked the occasion: “Most folks would long be collecting pensions at her age, but the newly minted octogenarian has no such intentions. Just the opposite, in fact. ‘I'm not quitting,’ George said. ‘They'll have to kick me out."' She didn't retire until six years later.
After retirement, Miss George’s days were filled with her favorite pastimes: doll collecting, traveling, hiking and photography.
She had collected more than 1,000 new and antique dolls, a collection so impressive that she wrote a book about it, which Emory published. The collection filled several rooms of her home and included dolls from her childhood. Her oldest doll was from 1830 while her favorite was commissioned to be in the likeness of her mother.
Miss George told the Emory Report, "Most people when they retire go downhill. I don't want to go downhill."
One of Miss George’s favorite times of the year was Thanksgiving, often spent in Charlottesville, Va., and last year’s holiday was one her nephew said he will never forget. After saying goodbye to family and getting on the road for the drive back to Georgia, Mr. Jacks, who was at the wheel, soon became ill. He turned to Miss George and told her she’d have to drive, which she did for the next 2 1/2hours, finally getting her nephew to a Greensboro, N.C., hospital.
After being released from the hospital, Mr. Jacks wouldn't see his aunt until days later at DeKalb Medical Center, where she had been admitted after being found on the floor of her home. She was later transferred to Odyssey Hospice, where she died, her nephew said.
Miss George, who never married, is survived by two brothers, Carroll George, 91, of Arlington, Va., and Paul George, 89, of Chattanooga.
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