Margaret Hunter Richards

Margaret Elizabeth Hunter Richards, age 86, of Greensboro, Georgia, died Friday, July 15, 2005, at Minnie G. Boswell Memorial Hospital. Born in Greensboro on February 8, 1919, she was the daughter of the late John Fred Hunter and Jeffie Lee Baugh Hunter. In 1936 she graduated from Greensboro High School. She received a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry from Wesleyan College in Macon in 1940 and a Bachelor of Music in Composition in 1941. She taught Chemistry and Music in Calhoun and Greensboro before her marriage. She was a member of the First United Methodist Church of Greensboro, where she served as a member and director of the choir and member and teacher of the Thornton McCommons Sunday School Class. Mrs. Richards was an ardent supporter of her community, having been a member and past president of the Greensboro Woman''s Club, member of the Greensboro Garden Club, den mother for the Cub Scouts, and member of the Friends of the Library.

During the twenty years that she and her family lived in Atlanta, Mrs. Richards was an active member of Oak Grove United Methodist Church, particularly in the music program. She wrote "O Lord, God," the anthem for the consecration of Oak Grove''s new sanctuary, in 1969.

She is survived by two daughters, Mary Margaret Richards of Spartanburg, South Carolina, and Helen Anne Richards of Decatur, Georgia; three sons, Roy Martin Richards Jr. of Fairview, Tennessee, William Hunter Richards of Eatonton, Georgia, and John Jefferson Richards of Oxford, Alabama; five grandchildren, William Hunter Richards Jr., Hamilton Griffith Richards, Carson Elizabeth Richards, John Jefferson Richards Jr., and William Jackson Richards; and a host of other relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her husband, Roy Martin Richards Sr. in July of 1982 and a brother, Dr. J. Fred Hunter Sr.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, July 19, 2005, at 11:00 a.m. at the First United Methodist Church of Greensboro, with the Reverend Scott Parrish and the Reverend Ira McKeever officiating. Interment will follow at Greensboro City Cemetery. Serving as pallbearers are Lee Robbins, Bill Whorley, Craig Beeler, Ken Cawthon, Peter Topken, and Larry Smith. Honorary pallbearers are Dr. W. H. Rhodes Jr., Horace Harwell, and William B. Nipper. The family will receive friends from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. The family requests that any memorials be made to Wesleyan College, 4760 Forsyth Road, Macon, Georgia, 31210 or to the First United Methodist Church, 202 W. Broad Street, P.O. Box 216, Greensboro, Georgia 30642.

McCommons Funeral Home, 109 W. Broad Street, Greensboro, Georgia, (706) 453-2626, is in charge of arrangements. Visit us at www.mccommonsfuneralhome.com to sign the online guest register.

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