Libby Legett

Nashville - She was one in a million. Elizabeth Ann Legett was born on Widby Island in Washington State on January 7, 1949, the only child of Elizabeth Emma (Cavaleer) and Thomas Riley Legett. A Navy kid, she moved frequently to a new city and a new school. One of her favorite destinations was Spain, where she learned to flamenco dance in the sixth grade.

Libby considered herself part Texan, as her father was born and raised in Corpus Christi, and her parents eventually retired in Dallas. She received an anthropology degree from Southern Methodist University and, later, a nursing degree from Vanderbilt, which led her to Nashville, where she built her life and raised her family. After a short time in hospital labor and delivery, Libby realized she wanted to help women enjoy a different kind of birth experience. She became a midwife, delivering over 100 babies in their homes. When the state revoked her nursing license for delivering babies at home, she fought back and won, both in Chancery Court and the Court of Appeals, continuing midwifery for many years. She later became a buyer at Pangaea (an old Hillsboro Village favorite) for almost 25 years, a job that utilized her fabulous sense of style and nourished her love of travel.

Libby was a confident, private, strong-willed woman. She fiercely loved her daughters, Jamaica and Grace, whom she shared with ex-husband, Donnie Safer; her grandchildren Marlowe, Owen, Zia and Bridger, who all called her "Mimi"; her sons-in-law, Stephen Zralek and Cade Robertson; and her boyfriend of many years, Dale Barger. She also loved her dogs, walks in the woods, Halloween, things on toast, a crackling fire, long silver tinsel on fresh cut Christmas trees, Vaseline glass, spoiling those she loved, a good laugh, not knowing all the answers, shopping, a long drive in the country, and beauty wherever it could be found. She was surrounded by her daughters and Dale at home when she died peacefully on September 28, 2023. Today would have been her 75th birthday. She will be missed, always.