Joanna Stegeman Traylor

Athens - Joanna Stegeman Traylor died Thursday, June 14, 2007. Born in Gulfport, Mississippi, in 1918, she was the daughter of Dorothea W. and Herman J. Stegeman. In 1919, she moved with her family to Athens, Ga., where she attended Barrow Elementary School and Lucy Cobb Institute and graduated from Athens High School. She attended Gulf Park College and earned bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Georgia. She taught school in Abbeville, S.C., and Griffin, Ga. During her year in Abbeville, she also coached the girls' high school basketball team, which advanced to the finals of the state championship. In Griffin she also was society editor of the Griffin Daily News, and during World War II, she worked for the Red Cross.
She was instrumental in the establishment of Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation and saving from demolition the Church-Waddel-Brumby House, which became the Athens Welcome Center. She was chair of the foundation's 1969 historic homes tour. Also a member of Friends of Lucy Cobb, she was involved in the preservation and restoration of the institute's main building and its Seney-Stovall Chapel, both now owned by the University of Georgia.
She was an organizer of the Community Schools Program at Clarke Junior High School (now Clarke Middle), was president of the Clarke County PTA Council, and served on the Clarke County Board of Education. Named Athens Woman of the Year in 1972, she served as vice president of the University of Georgia's Alumni Society and was the first woman member of the University of Georgia Foundation. She was president of the Athens Chapter of the League of Women Voters and received the Eleanor Raoul Greene Lifetime Achievement Award from the League of Women Voters of Georgia. She served on the Athens - Clarke County Charter Commission, was involved with the Model Cities Program, and worked as a volunteer on Jimmy Carter's campaigns for governor and president.
She was a charter member of the University of Georgia chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta. She was a member of the Athens Junior Assembly, the Junior League of Athens, the Junior League of Augusta, Athens Garden Club, Athens Symphony Guild, Athens Historical Society, Friends of Five Points, Tate Mountain Associates, and Athens Country Club, where she won the women's golf championship. She was affiliated with two Athens book clubs and two Athens churches, Emmanuel Episcopal and First Baptist.
Mrs. Traylor was preceded in death by her husband, J. Bothwell Traylor, MD; her twin brother, John F. Stegeman, MD; and grandson Hugh S. Hassell, Jr. Survivors include her four children and their spouses: Joanna T. and Colonel (U.S. Army, Retired) Robert A. Guy and John B. and Karen J. Traylor, of Athens; David G. and Sally N. Traylor, of La Grange; and Dorothea T. and Hugh S. Hassell, of Franklin, Va. She also is survived by grandchildren, Robert A. Guy, Jr., and wife, Sydney, of Nashville, Tenn., Kathryn G. Birch and husband, Casey, of Austin, Texas, M. Whitney Traylor, of Athens, Thomas L. Traylor and Angelyn R. Traylor, of LaGrange, and Joanna Hassell, James B. Hassell, and Virginia L. Hassell of Franklin, Virginia; great-grandchildren, Glory Rose Guy and Nicholas M. Guy, of Nashville and Judah T. Birch, of Austin; sister Marion S. Hodgson, of Wichita Falls, Texas; and sister-in-law, Janet A. Stegeman, of Athens.
Services will be held at 2pm on Saturday, June 16th, at Seney-Stovall Chapel, 201 North Milledge Avenue, Athens,Ga. Interment will be at Oconee Hill Cemetery. The family will be at the residence. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Mary's Hospice, Athens-Clarke Heritage Foundation, or the University of Georgia Foundation's Bothwell Traylor Graduate Award. Bridges Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.