Emily Walsh Carnes

CARNES, Emily Walsh Emily Walsh Carnes left on August 8th, 2015. She was predeceased by her father, Thomas Joseph Walsh; her mother, Anne Bates Leach; her sister, Elizabeth Winship Spears; her brother, William Joel Leach; two of her sons: Arthur Frithjoff Rees IV and Thomas Joseph Rees; her husband, William Boyd Carnes; and, her step daughter, Virginia Gould Rather nee Carnes. She is survived by her sister, Anne Winship Henry; her son, daughter in law and grandson: Winship Ely Rees, Elizabeth Reagin Rees and Thomas Frithjoff Rees; her granddaughter, Merrily Anne Rees; her stepson, William Stansbury Carnes, his wife, Mary, and their three children; her nephew, Richard Ransom Henry; great grandchildren: James Cole Smith, Taylor Nicole Erickson and Gavin James Bennink; and, a daughter, other grandchildren, nieces and nephews. The family especially thanks Emily's caregivers for her last two years: Beatrice Karangwa and David Karera at Wisdom Well Living in Sugar Hill. Emily was born in Atlanta on July 23rd, 1923, and lived on N. Decatur Rd. As a child she enjoyed riding her pony to elementary school at Druid Hills and summers at the family home at Tate Mountain near Jasper, Ga. In the 1930s her family moved to Stuart, Fla., and built a home known to this day as Tuckahoe. They vacationed in Cuba during the winter and at the Kellogg Institute in Michigan during the summer. Emily attended high school at Graham Eckes in Florida and then Fairmont in D.C. before Wellesley College in Boston and the Universidad Nacional de Mexico. After high school and before college she toured ten European countries. While in Czechoslovakia Nazi troopers stopped her train and searched it. While at college she was a diver on the swim team. After WWII her mother bought the Addison Mizner designed home in Palm Beach known as La Fontana. Emily moved to Atlanta but she and her growing family visited her mother in Palm Beach every spring break and more. In 1968 she moved to Suwanee and lived there the rest of her life. Emily was active in the Daughters of Christ the King for the Cathedral of St Phillip for many years. She was a talented seamstress who made matching outfits for her children; a fashion model; an equestrienne who showed horses and fox hunted with Shakerag Hounds and other hunt clubs throughout the southeast; an original Guarantor of the Atlanta Steeplechase; a designer of houses for herself and others in Atlanta, Cashiers, N.C., and Suwanee; an accomplished musician who played the harp and piano (each of her children played a musical instrument and the family performed as a band in Atlanta); an interior decorator throughout her life who started and ran for over twenty five years a gift shop in Dunwoody that she named The Designing Woman (her business name and concept were misappropriated and used for a cheesy TV sitcom); the founder of and active rider and trainer for Larkabit Farm in Suwanee where thoroughbreds were bred, raised and trained for sales and races throughout the country; a Master Gardener who established a green house for her flowers and plants; an outstanding cook and hostess; and, a linguist who fluently spoke English, German, Spanish, French and Italian. Emily had a keen and kind sense of humor. She was always loving, articulate, poised, gracious and generous. Donations in honor of Emily may be mailed to American Macular Degeneration Foundation, P O Box 515, Northampton, Ma., 01061-0515 This Saturday, August 15th, at 6:30, there will be a celebration of her life on the farm at her house.