Margaret Liggett's Obituary
Margaret Ellen Maris Liggett, 86, died surrounded by her family on September 12, 2014, following a short illness. She was predeceased by her husband of 61 years, Hollis Liggett, and their oldest child, daughter Fonya Liggett. She is survived by a son, Maris Liggett; three daughters: Marjean, Nora and Zora Liggett; a daughter-in-law, Kristi Estes; four grandchildren: Samuel, Benjamin, Margaret (“Megan”) and Katherine (“Katie”) Liggett; and a much-loved collie dog, Lindsey. She is also survived by a brother, David Lee Maris, of Santa Rosa, California, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. She was born on August 23, 1928 in Memphis, Tennessee, the fifth of five children of Cecil and Nora Maris. She and Hollis met as fellow students at Lambuth College in Jackson, Tennessee and married immediately after her graduation in June 1950. They spent the first year of their married life in Austin, Texas, where she was enrolled in a master’s program in botany at the University of Texas. From there, they moved to Paris, Tennessee, for one year, where Hollis was the pastor of five rural Methodist churches. They then returned to Memphis, where Margaret spent seven years as a science and physical education teacher in the Memphis City School system, before going on to work beside her husband in his snack bar in the old John Gaston Hospital. When John Gaston closed, Margaret and Hollis owned and operated a vending machine business at the Med, from which they retired in 1994. They were long-time residents of Central Gardens and after their retirement could regularly be spotted taking their collies for long early morning walks through the neighborhood. Margaret was a lifelong lover of nature and the outdoors. As a girl, she spent many happy days on camping and backpacking trips with her family and her girl scout troop and visiting her grandparents at their farm, “Springwood Hill,” in the Missouri Ozarks. As an adult, she spent as much time as possible at her beloved farm in Lewis County, Tennessee, which she named “Springforest Hills” in memory of her grandparents’ farm. She loved hiking up and down the wooded hills and hollows, stargazing, bushhogging the fields, cultivating a large garden, working on a never-ending list of “farm projects,” and teaching her children and grandchildren about nature. She was an incredibly active and energetic woman and for over twenty years organized and hosted at her farm annual Fourth of July picnics for Hollis’s family, as well as once-every four-year week long reunions for her family. She remained active well into her later years. In her early 70’s, she and a daughter built a one-room log cabin by hand at the farm, using trees they cut from the property and a horse to drag the logs to the building site. Just two weeks before her death, she spent Labor Day weekend at her farm, enjoying her children and grandchildren and supervising the youngest grandchildren’s swimming in the creek. She was a kind, loving, wise, generous and nurturing person. Even in her last moments of life, she was still expressing her love and concern for her children’s welfare and happiness rather than any thought of herself. A memorial service will be held Saturday, September 20th, at 11 a.m. at First Unitarian Church of Memphis (The Church of the River). In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Memphis Humane Society, the Church of the River, or the charity of the donor’s choice.Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave. Memphis, TN 38119, “Behind the Stone Wall.”
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