In 1976, Newsweek dubbed volunteers for Jimmy Carter's presidential campaign the "Peanut Brigade."
Sidney Lines was one of the nuts.
She liked the former president's populist message as well as the pride he held for his rural roots. She traveled to New Hampshire during the primary to campaign for the former governor. She went from neighborhood to neighborhood to knock on doors and ask voters to elect a Georgia peanut farmer the 39th president of the United States.
"This southern belle trooped around in all that snow and she absolutely loved it," said her daughter, Mary Sydney McAllister of Atlanta. "She was so taken with the others who were involved in the campaign, and she was such a people person anyway. That was her forte. If you saw her smile, you would vote for whomever."
Because of her campaign involvement, a Virginia native known for her "compassionate personality" attended the 1977 presidential inaugural. She and her husband of 63 years, the late Robert Edwin Lines, were invited to the White House on several occasions during the Carter administration.
On Sunday, Sidney Dillard Lines of Decatur died of heart failure at Hospice Atlanta. She was 97. A memorial service will be at 11 a.m. today at Clairmont Presbyterian Church in Decatur. Cremation Society of Georgia is in charge of arrangements.
Like Mr. Carter, Mrs. Lines took pride in her roots. She was born in Glen Wilton, Va., in the western part of the state. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in nursing from the Medical College of Virginia, then worked several years as a registered nurse at Memorial Regional Medical Center in Richmond.
In 1941, she and her husband moved to Atlanta, settling in East Lake. For years, Mrs. Lines was a school nurse at Hoke Smith High and later East Atlanta High, two Atlanta public schools now closed. Her nursing career ended with a seven-year stint at Piedmont Hospital.
Wherever Mrs. Lines lived, she was known as "the answer lady" when it came to ailments and injuries. Neighbors sought her out and she dispensed advice freely. Her daughter recalled an incident in East Lake when a child swallowed something inedible. Mrs. Lines tended to the youngster, then accompanied the family to the emergency room.
"She listened to everybody's illnesses or personal needs," her daughter said. "She had a compassionate personality and was very intuitive about people."
Mrs. Lines drove a car until she was 91. She enjoyed reading, playing golf and bridge. She liked to be organized, so much so that in the mid-1990s she penned her own funeral arrangements.
"She wanted to make everything easy on the family," her daughter said.
Both her husband and another daughter, Jean Webb, died in 1999.
Additional survivors include five grandchildren and 10 great-grandchildren.
About the Author
The Latest
Featured
