LaVonne Aspinwall Childers
December 7, 1925 – August 1, 2021
Funeral services for LaVonne Aspinwall Childers, 95, of Suwanee, GA, formerly of Cairo, GA, are at 3:00 p.m., Wednesday, August 4, 2021, at the First United Methodist Church, Cairo, GA. Rev. Christy Bandy will officiate. Private interment will be in Greenwood Cemetery, Cairo, GA. Mrs. Childers passed away at Discovery Village At Sugarloaf, Suwanee, GA, on Sunday, August 1, 2021.
Active pallbearers will be Mark Bishop, Kevin Chason, Brian Chason and LaVonne’s grandsons, Lee Childers, Doug Childers and Patrick Childers.
LaVonne Aspinwall Childers was born on a farm in Odum, Georgia on December 7, 1925, to Jermane and George Aspinwall. She was the oldest of five children and knew the meaning of hard work as she grew up living on a farm during the Great Depression. She graduated as valedictorian from Surrency High School where a teacher asked her to consider something that changed her life. College was a rare path for students growing up at that time in rural Georgia. When her teacher suggested that she should get a college degree, she pursued the opportunity against multiple obstacles and ended up at Berry College working her way through school. At that time, Berry College had a mission to give promising students who came from low income homes the opportunity for a college education.
She transferred as a junior to the University of Georgia in the School of Home Economics. She continued working her way through school during her two years at UGA and received her Home Economics degree in 1947. She was the first person in her family to receive a college degree.
She met her future husband, Edd Lee Childers, at the University of Georgia who attended on the GI Bill and received his degree in Agriculture. They married in December 1947 and made their way to Cairo, Georgia where son Chester was born in 1952. Edd passed away on April 30, 1977.
LaVonne worked as both the store and service manager of the local Sears and Roebuck Company catalogue store until she retired in 1978. She was active at Cairo First United Methodist Church and served in many leadership capacities. She also served as District President of United Methodist Women in the South Georgia Conference. In addition, she received the Grady County Woman of the Year award in 1996. She was an accomplished quilt maker and stitched a quilt for the 1996 Olympics.
She would often talk about what an accomplishment it was for her to graduate from the University of Georgia and said it was one of her proudest life’s accomplishments. In her honor, the family has started the LaVonne Aspinwall Childers Scholarship in the School of Family and Consumer Sciences at the University of Georgia. The scholarship was established to provide college opportunities for students living in rural Georgia.
LaVonne is survived by her son Chester (Chet), her daughter-in-law Nancy, and three grandsons and their families: Lee, wife Jamie, and daughter Sara; Doug, wife Molly, daughter Nellie, and son Gehrig; and Patrick, wife Lauren, and daughters Georgia, Molly, Maggie, Ellie, and Lily. She is also survived by several loving nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by: her parents; her husband; sisters, Oreeda Griffis, Enid Griffis; and brothers, James Edward Aspinwall, Roger Clayton Aspinwall.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be given to: LaVonne Aspinwall Childers Scholarship (Click On Link At Bottom Of Page); Cairo First United Methodist Church, 318 South Broad Street, Cairo, GA 39828; or Epworth by the Sea, P O Box 20407, St. Simons Island, GA 31522.
The family will receive friends on Wednesday from 2:00 p.m. until 2:45 p.m. in the sanctuary of the First United Methodist Church.
This is the link to Childers Scholarship Fund.
https://gail.uga.edu/commit?cat=school&subcat=family%20%26%20consumer%20sciences&des=75939003
