Marian GRAVES

1918 - 2016

GRAVES, Marian March 21, 1918 - February 12, 2016 Marian Cleo Sprinkle Graves was born March 21, 1918 in the Flat Creek township of Buncombe County, North Carolina and departed this world peacefully in her sleep February 12, 2016 at home in Atlanta, Georgia. She was the third of four children and only daughter born to Marion Cleotis Sprinkle and Edna Berta Page Sprinkle. One of her earliest childhood memories was boarding a train for the first time after her father sold the farm he had inherited from the grandmother who raised him, Nancy J Sprinkle, to become a business man. Gun shots from the Civil War had remained visible in the farm house walls. Her father began a laundry in Canton, North Carolina (now Canton Laundry, Inc. under the 4th generation of family management) and later expanded into the coal and ice business. Marian and her friends played among the laundry after school and later assisted with folding linens. Poor childhood dentition introduced Marian to dentistry. When as a child she declared that she, too, wanted to become a dentist her father responded "That is not a bad idea". Years later, after she graduated from Fruitland Baptist High School, Hendersonville NC and Mars Hill Baptist College, Mars Hill NC, he put her on a bus to Atlanta and the dental school associated with Emory University with the admonition "I will support you, but if you begin this I expect you to finish it." And she did. Marian graduated from Emory Dental School in 1942 just as America entered World War II and men of military age were drafted into service. An older dentist struggling to keep his large Atlanta practice afloat while losing his younger associates to the military visited the Dean to inquire: "I understand you have a woman in your graduating class. Is she any good?" Thus Marian, who graduated second in her class, received the job offer that began her career as the first woman to practice dentistry in Atlanta (and the only one to practice during WWII) primarily on the merit of her immunity to the draft. After the war ended and male dentists returned to civilian life, Marian accepted an invitation from Buck Chandler, a former instructor at the dental college, to partner with him in starting a two person practice. That partnership continued until Buck retired and beyond, as Marian shared her practice with his stepson. Thus Marian pioneered in a second arena as one of the few independent business women in Atlanta during the pre-feminist 1950s and 1960s. Marian's patients remember her advice "You don't need to floss all your teeth... only the ones you want to keep." Over the years she developed a large and loyal cadre of patients, some of whom were the fourth generation of family in her practice by the time she retired in 1992 after 50 years of practice to pursue her second career as a wife. Ever the pioneer, in December 1991 Marian married for the first time at the age of 73 to James B. Graves, a charming widower and cousin of patients in her practice. When asked why she waited so long to marry she would reply "Until I met Jim my taste just always exceeded my opportunities." Marian was an astute and unsentimental judge of character, a trait that served her well in her last years when her memory failed but she was surrounded by a loyal cadre of trustworthy chosen advisors, family and friends. Marian believed herself to be tactful but in truth rarely succeeded in keeping an opinion to herself. This led to sometimes unwelcome (but always on target) advice to star struck young women such as "Don't marry that man just because you have nothing better to do". If Marian's father Marion's gift to her was an astute business sense, her mother Bertie's gift was a talent for and love of needlework. Marion's hand knit sweaters and Christmas stockings and hand stitched embroidery were treasured. She enjoyed travel, most frequently to the British Isles, played the piano and was widely read. Raised in the Baptist church, Marian was a long term member of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Atlanta and, after her marriage, Decatur Presbyterian Church. Her Christian faith was exemplified in her daily life and informed all aspects of her values and decisions. On March 24, 2012 Marion discussed her life and career during an interview with StoryCorps, America's largest oral history project. Thus her story is among the recordings archived at the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress. Marian was preceded in death by her mother and father, Bertie and Marion Sprinkle, her brothers William, Carl and James Sprinkle and their wives, her husband James Graves and one niece. She is survived by her nieces Carleen Baughman of Ocala, Florida and niece and nephew Lorene Sprinkle West and Ronald Sprinkle of Canton, North Carolina and their families. Donations in her memory can be given to charities exemplifying her values. Marion was a longtime supporter of her churches and of Operation Smile, an international medical charity committed to provision of safe surgical care to children born with facial deformities.