Nellie Grant Hollingsworth

Forsyth . . . . Nellie Gertrude Grant Hollingsworth completed her earthly life on Monday, Oct. 12, 2015 at the age of 95. She was born in Monroe County, Georgia, on Jan. 17, 1920, the daughter of Joseph Clarence and Nannie Smarr Grant. Nellie was a graduate of Mary Persons High School and a 1940 graduate of her beloved Bessie Tift College.  After graduating from Tift, Nellie pursued a career as a bookkeeper and followed a lifelong path of community service. During World War II, she served with the Rationing Board in Monroe County. She worked as a bookkeeper with Walthall Oil Company in Macon and for many years was the bookkeeper for Willie Mack Tribble Pure Oil Company in Forsyth. After retiring from that position, she served as church secretary for Forsyth First Baptist Church. During much of tenure at First Baptist Nellie chaired the church Social Committee and also provided the Wednesday Night Supper for midweek services. In 1991, she and Angeline Ashe DeLeGal organized a Meals on Wheels program for shut-ins. Nellie directed this program for many years. Nellie completed her professional career as bookkeeper for the E. W. Banks Company in Forsyth.  Nellie was active in the Forsyth Junior Women’s Club/Women’s Club, serving as Treasurer for many years and receiving recognition for her service in numerous areas. She was a former member of Cabaniss Chapter 415 United Daughters of the Confederacy. Her love for Tift College was shown by her work with the Tift Alumni where she served as President and also with the Olde Order of Tift Alumni. For over sixty years she corresponded and visited with close friends from her Tift years. In 1998, Nellie received the Distinguished Tift Alumna Award from the Olde Order.  Service and compassion were hallmarks of Nellie’s life. Many ill or bereaved persons were recipients of a Nellie pound cake, usually hot from the oven. She lived the philosophy of "random acts of kindness” long before the phrase became a catchword. Many Tift students through the years were beneficiaries of home-cooked meals and relaxing visits in Nellie’s home. Students were eager to be “adopted by Miss Nellie”.  Much of Nellie’s life was lived at home as she faithfully cared for her mother, but that did not prevent her enjoying travel and adventure. During the 1940s Nellie was a participant in the 41 Motorcade, a caravan of cars driving to Chicago when U.S. Highway 41 was first paved. Fifty years later, in 1994, she enjoyed a trip out west where she climbed rocks in the Badlands of South Dakota, rode out on the range and had dinner with cowboys on a Montana ranch, explored Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons, and rode up Pike’s Peak. Between these two adventures were many enjoyable trips to the mountains of north Georgia, to beaches in Georgia and Florida, and many other locations.  In 1988, Nellie became re-acquainted with a widowed friend who had pastored in Forsyth during World War II. After a touching courtship, Nellie and Willis B. Hollingsworth were married in January, 1989. They enjoyed a brief six months before Dr. Hollingsworth’s death.  In addition to her parents and husband, Nellie was predeceased by her siblings J. Ray Grant, Sr., George C. Grant, and Lois G. Bryant and by her niece, Mary Grant Morris. Although Nellie had no children of her own, she was much beloved by generations of nieces and nephews as well as her “adopted” Tift family. She is survived by nieces and nephews Priscilla Grant Doster, Ed. D., and husband Ernest Jackson of Forsyth; J. Ray Grant, Jr., M.D., and wife Leigh of Forsyth; Frances Barnes Grant, M.D., of Macon; Martha Grant Clark and husband Tom of Snellville; and Clarence Bryant of Hawkinsville. Great-nieces and nephews include Amanda Doster Parks (Keith) of Forsyth, Katherine Doster Fletcher (Will) of Watkinsville, Jessica Grant of Forsyth, Natalie Grant Estes (Aaron) of Jackson, Amelia Grant White (Patrick) of Auburn, AL, W. Barrett Grant (Beth) of Atlanta, Michael Ray Grant (Sarah) of Atlanta, Grant Clark of Savannah, Kelly Morris Faris (Mike) of Atlanta, and Johnathan Bryant of Hawkinsville.  Nellie’s epitaph provides a true summary of her life: “Meticulous Bookkeeper - Excellent Cook - Beloved Aunt”.  Visitation will be at Forsyth First Baptist Church at 1 p.m. on Thursday, October 15.  Funeral services, conducted by Dr. Dan Whitaker, will be held at the church at 2 p.m., with burial afterward in Forsyth City Cemetery. Serving as pallbearers will be Barrett Grant, Michael Grant, Grant Clark, Johnathan Bryant, Aaron Estes, Patrick White, Dick Bazemore and Bill Bazemore.  In lieu of flowers, donations in Nellie’s memory may be made to the Meals on Wheels program of Forsyth First Baptist Church, 95 West Morse Street, Forsyth, GA 31029. Monroe County Memorial Chapel has charge of arrangements.