Sarah Stapleton Dillon

July 16, 1923-Feb. 10, 2008
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 16, 2008, at Lanier Village Estates for Sarah Stapleton Dillon, 84, of Lanier Village Estates, Gainesville. Dr. David L. McDonald and the Rev. Richard A. Evans will officiate. The family will receive friends at Lanier Village Estates after the service. She was the daughter of George Willis Stapleton and Lucile Rivers Stapleton, Stapleton. In addition to her parents; a brother, Walter H. Stapleton; and a sister, Florence Stapleton Flanders, preceded her in death.
A graduate of Stapleton High School, she attended Georgia Teachers College, Statesboro, and graduated from Georgia State College for Women, Milledgeville (now GC&SU) with a BS in Institutional Management, majoring in foods, nutrition and dietetics. Following graduation, she served as interim dietician at Riverside Hospital, Jacksonville, Fla., assistant dietician at Wesleyan College, Macon, and taught foods and nutrition at Miller High School, Macon.
Following her marriage in 1953, she became a homemaker in Atlanta, but often traveled with her husband, whose work took him for extended periods to locations throughout the Southeast. In 1960, they transferred to Charlotte, N.C., in 1965, to Buenos Aires, Argentina, and in 1971, to Sao Paulo, Brazil, where they remained until her husband's retirement in 1983. During the years in South America, she made many friends and had the opportunity to enjoy golf, bridge and extensive travel throughout the world and to host national and international business visitors and their wives.
Following retirement, she and her husband returned to Atlanta, where they lived for 12 years before moving to Big Canoe in 1995. In 2001, they moved to Lanier Village Estates, Gainesville. Until her recent illness, she continued to enjoy travel, reading, music, theater, sports and games.
She was a member of the Atlanta History Center, High Museum of Art, Quinlan Visual Arts Center, Gainesville Symphony Orchestra, the Gainesville Arts Council, the Chancellors Club – UNC at Chapel Hill and the President's Circle at Georgia College and State University. While at Big Canoe, she was an active member of the Big Canoe Chapel and since moving to Gainesville, of First Presbyterian Church.
Survivors include her husband of 54 years, Albert S. (Bert) Dillon, Gainesville; a sister, Mildred Stapleton Launius of Monroe; sister-in-law, Sara McTier Stapleton of Stapleton; nephews, Jackson Flanders and wife Cindy of Baker, Fla., George Launius and wife Nancy of Madison, Scott Stapleton and wife Catherine of Stapleton; nieces, Susan Sheppard and husband James of Stapleton, Luann Staulcup and husband Gene of Augusta and Luci Launius Dunn of Milledgeville; 14 great-nieces and nephews; five great-great nieces and nephews and a number of cousins.
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Presbyterian Church, 800 South Enota Drive, N.E., Gainesville, GA 30501; the American Cancer Society; or the charity of your choice.