Jemmie Ray Vanderlip

Jemmie Ray Wingard Vanderlip was born August19,1933, in Warm Springs, Georgia, to Pierce and Mary( Hightower) Wingard. Her father was a Southern Railroad Station Agent, and her mother was a homemaker. She was named for two of her father’s beloved schoolteachers. This resulted in her being listed annually in the boy’s gym class which she had to change each year with the school secretary.

She was named “Little Miss Warm Springs” as a toddler and rode in a parade through town perched on the hood of a Model A Ford truck clutching the raised wind shield to hold her position.

Her father’s job took the family to many Georgia towns before they settled in Atlanta when she was in the fifth grade. Jemmie told of the many gymnastic tricks she achieved, standing on her head, doing flips and cartwheels and hanging from her knees on the monkey bars as she made friends from one town to the next.

Their home in Atlanta was in the Copenhill neighborhood. The property now is included in the site of the Jimmy Carter Presidential Library. On a visit there Jemmie could still identify trees that stood on her street.

Jemmie graduated from Bass High School and then attended Auburn University achieving an associate’s degree in Secretarial Studies. She was employed by Southern Railroad for five years. She moved to live with a friend in Denver, Colorado after a year of resisting for fear of losing her seniority. She then had a blind date with someone that she dismissed as a young college student. She was delighted when Jack Vanderlip showed his ID to the waitress, who proclaimed, “ you’re older than I am!” Jemmie then became interested. They were married June 14, 1958.

They had two children Jeffrey and Lynn. Jack’s work took the family to California, Iowa, Connecticut, Texas and then back to Georgia. She made new draperies and shades to enhance their home after every relocation. Wherever they lived Jemmie connected with neighbors and created her community.

Jemmie took up painting as a hobby when her son was a baby. Her first painting was a paint by numbers kit. When it was completed, she took it to the framers, and they all laughed because the frame would cost more than the kit had.

She was modest about her artwork, but her family and friends loved her snapshot style of capturing what she witnessed in daily life with her children, on camping vacations, or in her grocery cart. In addition to her oil and acrylic paintings she made a sculpture of foam and fabric portraying a 5’ by 5’ bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. It was a favorite plaything for her grandchildren. Her participation in the Mt. Carmel Art Association in Hamden, CT brought her awards, and more importantly lifelong friends.

While living in Connecticut she was a member of Dunbar Church of Christ. She joined the ladies of the church in a yearly apple pie fundraiser. Each woman had an assignment on the production line. Jemmie was on the team of “Holy Rollers” rolling pie crust for the twelve hundred pies sold.

In Connecticut she was employed by LFE Corporation.

Jemmie had an exceptionally green thumb which she enhanced, along with Jack, by volunteering and receiving education through the Master Gardeners Program in Galveston, TX and Athens, GA.

In Texas, she tended the demo garden, identified and labeled all the plants, no small undertaking. During their time there the annual plant sale grew from one hundred plants to more than three thousand plants of three hundred varieties sold in a four-hour period. To accomplish that they created an alphabetical diagram and placed each plant in its proper place.

Jemmie was preceded in death by her parents and sisters, Mary Bohannon and Martha Landrum of Atlanta, GA.

Memorial services will be Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at 2:00 PM at the chapel of Lord and Stephens Funeral Home, WEST. The family will receive friends from 1:00 until 2:00 PM at the funeral home.

She is survived by her husband of 66 years, Jack Vanderlip. In the last year of her life Jack was also her caregiver. She is also survived by her children Jeff (Valerie) Vanderlip and Lynn Waters as well as her five adult grandchildren.

Her family is grateful for the staff at Haven Memory Care who gave her exceptional support and compassion in this last stage of life.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the ASPCA.

Lord and Stephens Funeral Home, WEST, is in charge of arrangements. www.lordandstephens.com