Margaret Smith Panter

Margaret Smith Panter

Sarah Margaret Smith Panter passed away on Sunday, March 26, 2023 surrounded by family. She was born in Hazelhurst, Georgia, on January 23, 1933. She was the sixth of seven children born to Annie Faye Beavert and Harry Brown Smith, Sr. Margaret graduated from Hazelhurst High School and met her future husband, James Franklin "Jim" Panter, her senior year. Jim and his parents had moved there for that year while his father served as school superintendent. Margaret moved on to complete Georgia Baptist Hospital School of Nursing in Atlanta. Furthering her education, she completed a post graduate course in Operating Room Technic (sic) and Management at the Graduate Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. She returned to Atlanta and worked for a few years at Georgia Baptist Hospital. Margaret and Jim married in Glenn Memorial Chapel on the Emory University campus on June 8, 1957. After starting a family, she worked at DeKalb General Hospital in Decatur, eventually becoming the Operating Room Supervisor, a position she held for over 20 years until retirement in late 1990. A dedicated registered nurse with a sacrificial love for her patients and a desire for their best health, she crossed picket lines for days in order to work during a nurses' strike decades ago. A leader in the field of operating room nursing, she was a very active member of the Association of Operating Room Nurses, traveling to annual meetings throughout the United States and Puerto Rico. She thoroughly loved the travel and associating with other nurses and leaders in healthcare. Raised in the Baptist faith, Margaret was a member of Oak Grove United Methodist Church and a member of The Seekers Sunday School Class. In her retirement, she and Jim built a log cabin in the north Georgia mountains near his birthplace. They dearly loved spending time there and she, especially, loved decorating it.

Margaret loved Jim, her three children, and the rest of her family very much. She is predeceased by her husband, James Franklin Panter, Sr.; her son James Franklin Panter, Jr.; her parents; her brother Harry B. Smith, Jr.; and her sisters: Robbie Louise Buckley, Jean Evelyn Hutchison, and Mildred Wylene Duncan.

She is survived by her daughters: Laura Margaret Panter Ozment (Randall) of Dublin and Elizabeth Faye Panter Beal (John) of Atlanta; daughter-in-law: Abbie Parker Panter (widow of James, Jr.) of Suwanee ; grandson: Matthew Randall Ozment (Whitney) of Greenville, SC; granddaughters: Alison Ozment Feyereisen (Joel) of Alpharetta, Abby Ozment Goolsby (Ben) of Homewood, AL, Anna Ozment McClung (Brad) of Chattanooga, TN, Melanie Beal Orr (Phillip) of Decatur, Kelsey Michele Beal of Bloomington, IN, Aierelle McFall Anderson (Colton) of Summerville, SC, and Presley Kay McFall of Lawrenceville; great-grandsons: Thomas Hudson Feyereisen and Jace Maddux Orr; great-granddaughters : Arah Jane Ozment, Grady Anne Ozment, Emmaline Grace Ozment, and Annie Hope Feyereisen; sisters: Mary Anne Smith Miller and Gloria Patricia Smith Cunningham.

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday, April 1st 2023, in the chapel of A.S. Turner Funeral Home. There will be visitation an hour prior. The interment will be at Georgia National Cemetery in Canton on Monday, April 3rd, 2023.

The family wishes to send much appreciation and love to all those involved in Margaret's care over the past few years. We cannot thank you enough. We could not have done it without you. Thank you.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent in her memory to:

Georgia Baptist Children's Homes and Family Ministries

Post Box 329

Palmetto, Georgia 30268

georgiachildren.org