Margaret Fain Mize, 96, died Friday, Jan. 27, 2017 in Charlotte, N.C. where she had been living for the past two years. She was born in Chattanooga, Tenn. July 29, 1920 to Charles Meek Fain and Jessie Calhoun Fain.

As a student at Maryville College she earned a bachelor’s degree and met her future husband, Dr. John Thomas Mize. They were married in 1943 while he was a dental student at Emory University in Atlanta. In 1947, Margaret and Tom moved to Tryon where he practiced dentistry and Margaret raised six children and countless dogs and was very active in the Tryon community.

Margaret was a founding member of the Gay Blades Garden Club, active in the Congregational Church, and a busy community volunteer. After the birth of the last child, Margaret attended graduate school to earn an MAT degree which qualified her to teach science and home economics at Tryon High School for over 20 years.

Following the death of her husband in 1993, she continued to live in Tryon and Columbus until 2015 when she moved to the Pavilion Health Care in Charlotte for rehabilitation and nursing care following a debilitating fall. She was close to family in Charlotte including one daughter, two granddaughters and three great-grandchildren.

Her surviving family includes six adult children, 12 grandchildren and five great grandchildren, one sister, and numerous nieces and nephews. She was a woman of irrepressible spirit, loved and respected by all who knew her, and truly a mother in the grand sense of the word. All who were part of her life benefited from her very special gifts of compassion, joy, kindness, and unconditional love for all.

A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 4, 2017 at the Tryon Congregational Church. The family will receive friends in the church fellowship hall following the service.

Memorials may be made to the Congregational Church, 210 Melrose Avenue, Tryon, NC 28782 or to Hospice & Palliative Care Charlotte Region, 1420 East Seventh Street, Charlotte, NC 28204 (hpccr.org).

An online guest register is available at www.mcfarlandfuneralchapel.com.

McFarland Funeral Chapel
Tryon, N.C.