Margaret Swetnam Weldon

After a lifetime of teaching, both in the school classroom and also the Sunday School classroom, Margaret Swetnam Weldon died Wednesday, October 24. Her 97 years leave a broad legacy of so many students, friends and family members who were blessed by her loving service to everyone she met, including all levels of staff at the Brightmoor Nursing Home which was her residence for her last two years. Her teaching years included 24 years teaching English at Spalding Junior High School, as well as 13 years working with gifted students in Program Challenge, both in the junior high school and at Griffin High School, several years teaching extension classes at Gordon Junior College in Barnesville, and several years assisting part-time with the Program Challenge program at several elementary schools. She was one of the first teachers to work with the Program Challenge in the Griffin Spalding County school system and helped develop the program. When she transferred to the high school, she worked with the Program Challenge students in developing the first Advanced Placement classes in the high school at the beginning of that program. She also served as coach for the Griffin High School teams for the Academic Bowls and was advisor to the Math team. She was so enthusiastic and upbeat with these students that they nicknamed her “Bubbles” and gave her a one of a kind tee shirt with “Bubbles” on one side and the Greek letters of the Math team on the other. During her teaching career, Mrs. Weldon was named a STAR teacher three times by her students, and even though she had been retired for almost 20 years, she was often visited by former students who came to tell her how much she had meant to them. Shortly after she moved to Brightmoor, one of her students wrote to thank her for a “gift you gave to me over forty years ago. That gift was encouragement”, and went on to say that it changed his entire life. Margaret Swetnam was born in 1915, the eldest daughter of Rev. Ernest Swetnam, a minister in the North Georgia Conference of the United Methodist Church. She finished high school in l932 in the depths of the depression and her father told her he couldn’t afford to send her to college. But in her senior year, the Methodist Conference moved him to pastor a church in Gainesville, Georgia. There he met and played chess with the president of Brenau College who made it possible for her to attend Brenau. She finished with a degree in English and education and planned to teach, but there were no teaching positions available in 1936. However, she had been very active in the conference youth program of the Methodist Church and contacts there led her to a job with the First Methodist Church in Griffin and she became the church’s first Director of Youth as well as the church secretary. She also had a dream of doing special service with the Methodist Church, and with that in mind, she began studies at Scarritt College in Nashville, Tennessee, completing one year of a two-year program. However, previously in Griffin, she had met Andrew Weldon, a grocery salesman, who frequently traveled to Nashville to see her, and subsequently, she returned to Griffin to marry, begin a family and again work at the church. She was able finally to begin her teaching career in 1947 at Spalding Junior High School. After teaching for many years, when she was in her 50’s, she went back to school at Georgia State University, earning a master’s degree in education. Her career spanned forty plus years, and included retiring three times, with the final retirement in 1993 when she was 78. Even after retirement, until she was 90, she was known for her command of the English language – grammar and structure -- and assisted many friends who were doing undergraduate and graduate work with their papers. At 90, she began to lose her sight due to glaucoma but could still have people read her their writing and offer critical help. Throughout her teaching years, she continued her involvement with Griffin First United Methodist Church, serving on the Board of Stewards in the areas of education and worship, and holding various offices with the United Methodist Women. She was president and teacher of the Myrtice Bailey Sunday School Class, a class revered in the church for service both in and outside of the church. Mrs. Weldon was predeceased by her husband of 50 years, Andrew J. Weldon; her parents, Rev. and Mrs. Ernest C. Swetnam, and her daughter, Andrea Weldon Ross. She is survived by her daughter, Ellen Weldon Dukes of Austell, GA, and sons, David (and Becky) Weldon of Griffin and Dr. John (Germaine) Weldon of Ocean Springs, Mississippi; sister, Anne (Don) Barton of Beaufort, South Carolina; grandchildren, Marcus (Sheryl) Weldon, Anna Weldon, Morgan Weldon (Luke) Davis, Jackson Weldon, Jonathan Ross and Meredith Ross; and great-grandchildren, Fiona Davis and Trent Baker. The funeral will be held Tuesday, October 30, at the First United Methodist Church in Griffin. Visitation will begin at 12:30 p.m. with the funeral service at 2 p.m., followed by a reception at the church. Burial will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery in Griffin. In lieu of flowers, Mrs. Weldon would have wanted donations directed to the First United Methodist Church youth program, 1401 Maple Drive, Griffin GA 30224

Margaret Swetnam Weldon

August 10, 1915 - October 24, 2012