Jeane Argo, mother-in-law to Georgia’s governor and a state senator, dies at 92

Georgia’s governor and first lady suffered another death in the family on Sunday. Gov. Brian Kemp’s mother-in-law, Jeane Lois Alderson Argo, died at age 92, the family announced on Twitter.

Argo was also the mother-in-law of state Sen. Bill Cowsert, R-Athens, and the widow of former state Rep. Bob Argo, who represented Athens in the state Legislature from 1977 to 1986. Bob Argo, who later served on the State Properties Commission, died in 2016, also at age 92.

In 2021, the family lost first lady Marty Kemp’s 61-year-old sister, Margaret Louise “Mimi” Argo-Laney, to coronavirus-related complications.

In a statement posted on Twitter, Marty Kemp called her mother “a guiding presence in our family,” saying her mother has now been reunited with both her husband and daughter.

“My mother carefully tended to all those she loved, and she was my father’s greatest supporter throughout his successful career in business and public service for his fellow Georgians,” Marty Kemp said. “Jeane Argo’s grandchildren affectionately called her by the nickname ‘Goose.’ Today, she spread her wings to fly to Heaven.”

In his own tweet, Gov. Kemp said his three daughters take after their grandmother.

“Today, we lost a cherished member of our family, my mother-in-law Jeane Argo,” Kemp said. “A wonderful mother to my wife & grandmother to our daughters, I see much of her beauty & joy in them.”

Sen. Cowsert, a former Senate majority leader and chairman of the Regulated Industries and Utilities committee, released a statement with his wife, Amy, via her sister’s tweet.

“Amy and I have always admired her parents’ love for one another, their family, Georgia football, and Georgia politics,” the statement said. “We are so happy that Jeane and Bob Argo are together again in Heaven.”

Funeral services have not been announced.