Microbiology, early childhood education and porcelain dolls. Maybe not a likely combination, but Margaret Hermann had a special place for all three in her life.
Mrs. Hermann, a native of Norfolk, Va., was headed toward a career in the sciences, having earned a bachelor’s degree in medical technology from the College of William and Mary in the 1930s. After World War II, where she entered the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVE), she started working on a master’s in microbiology, but decided to get married and start a family before she completed the program. In the late-‘60s, she went back to school, at the University of Georgia, and earned a master’s degree in early childhood education, and taught Head Start for several years before she retired. And after retirement, she took to making and painting porcelain dolls, and other art projects.
“She had a great many interests,” said her son George Stephen “Steve” Hermann. “And she loved school and was always learning something new.”
Even as her age advanced, she liked to keep up with world events and understand what was going on around her. She was often troubled by the ways of the world, her daughter said.
“She didn’t like to see people mistreated,” said her daughter Beverly Mangrum. “It didn’t matter who they were, she was always on the side of the underdog.”
Margaret Harmon Hermann, of Decatur, died Sunday at home of natural causes. She was 94. Her body was cremated, and a memorial service is planned for 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church, Atlanta. Wages & Sons Funeral Homes and Crematories, Stone Mountain, is in charge.
During her time as a scientist, Mrs. Hermann had the task of analyzing samples and helping doctors diagnose medical problems, her son said.
“You know all of the things they have machines to do now? Well, she did those things manually,” he said. “And once she came to a conclusion, she told the doctors what she saw.”
Mrs. Hermann didn’t come to a conclusion, be it scientific or social, without putting a considerable amount of thought into the idea. And once she formed her opinion, she didn’t mind sharing it with others, whether they agreed or not.
“She lost a few friends with some of her [personal] opinions,” her daughter said, with a laugh. “I think after while she decided to keep some of those thoughts to herself.”
Mrs. Hermann’s social opinions crossed all kinds of lines: party, cultural, racial, you name it, her daughter said. Her ultimate wish was to see people working together and helping others, and her actions often mirrored those thoughts. She taught Head Start in Atlanta because she knew the children who attended could use the help. She gave Christmas presents to orphans, because she knew those children might not get something from anyone else. She didn’t wait for somebody else to do something she could do, her children said.
“She was accomplished, but modest,” her son said. “She was always a doer, and she’d take responsibility for things and get things done.”
“And she didn't do any of it for recognition,” her daughter added. “She did it all because it needed to be done.”
Mrs. Hermann is also survived by her husband, Dr. George J. Hermann; three grandchildren; and one great-grandson.
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