Celestia Bailey "Lessie" Smithgall

1911 - 2021

Celestia "Lessie" Bailey Smithgall wrote in her memoirs she wanted her life to make a difference.

She died at 110 on June 25, having donated more than $30 million to Georgia arts, education, healthcare, and conservation. She was instrumental in founding The Peabody Awards. She was the oldest living member of Phi Beta Kappa, and believed to be the oldest living graduate of the University of Georgia. Upon her death, her home and outbuildings became part of the 186 acres she had already donated for the Atlanta Botanical Garden Smithgall Woodland Legacy in Gainesville, Georgia.

But the grit, humility, and humor packed into her diminutive frame were the most impressive, say those who knew her best. She sent handwritten notes and birthday cards, took homegrown roses to the beauty shop, and treasured weekly phone calls to friends.

Born in East Point in 1911, she graduated in 1929 from Girls High School and enrolled that fall at UGA, becoming one of its first female journalism graduates in 1933. She was hired as a copy editor at Atlanta radio station WGST, where she met announcer Charles Augustus Smithgall Jr. They married in 1934. Her husband, who died in 2001, was renowned for his own philanthropic contributions.

The two were co-founders of the Gainesville Times in 1947.

Lessie Smithgall died at her home in Gainesville. Her funeral will be 3 p.m. July 10 at First Baptist Church of Gainesville, with burial in Westview Cemetery in Atlanta. Little & Davenport Funeral Home in Gainesville is handling arrangements.

Read more about Lessie Smithgall on ajc.com.