Margaret Wilkerson Fort Meggs

Margaret Wilkerson Fort Meggs, age 98, of Springfield, passed away Wednesday, June 7, 2023 at Morningside of Springfield. Memorial services will be conducted at 1pm Saturday, June 17, 2023 in the chapel of Austin & Bell Funeral Home in Springfield. Inurnment will follow in the Bellwood Cemetery in Adams, TN. The family will receive friends from 11am until time of the service at 1pm Saturday, at the funeral home. Mrs. Meggs was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, on May 25, 1925, the third of four children born to George Taylor and Lucy Lillian Crouch Fort. Her maternal grandparents were Jack and Margaret Frances Wilkerson Crouch. Paternal grandparents were Sterling and Sallie Jones Fort. She was proud of her early Tennessee ancestry, being a direct descendent from Revolutionary War veteran Elias Fort and his wife, Sarah Sugg Fort, who moved to the Port Royal area c. 1792. Mrs. Meggs graduated from Clarksville High School in 1942, and from Austin Peay State College in 1944. In 1947, she received her baccalaureate degree in Nursing from Vanderbilt University, where she was a member of the United States Cadet Nurse Corps. As a Cadet Corps member, she did a brief tour of duty in Philadelphia, PA. She continued public health nursing as a member of the first staff of the Robertson County Public Health Department (estab. 1948), and later served the Tennessee Department of Public Health as Nursing Supervisor for the district that included Montgomery, Robertson, Houston, and Stewart Counties. After being recruited to teach second grade at Bell School in Adams, TN, in the late 1960's, Mrs. Meggs went on to complete courses for professional certification as a teacher. She continued to teach second grade at Bell and Cedar Hill Elementaries, and at Jo Byrns School. She retired in 1990, having served the State and the people of Tennessee in Public Health Nursing and in Education for more than 27 years. Mrs. Meggs was active in local, state and national teachers’ organizations, including the Robertson County Retired Teachers (Past President), the Charlotte Reeves Robertson Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution, Adams FCE, and the Alumni Associations of Austin Peay State and Vanderbilt Universities. An avid interest in Early American arts and crafts grew out of her years as Director of Arts & Crafts for the Tennessee-Kentucky Threshermen's Association Show in Adams. She was a quilter and basket-maker, supporting several related organizations, including being a Charter Member of the American Quilters Society, and, with her husband, a Patron of the Adams Museum. Mrs. Meggs was also a talented photographer whose nature photos won awards. During her work with Robertson County Public Health Department, she met and married her husband of 60 years, Emerson Alford Meggs, of Adams, who predeceased her in 2012. The couple had three children, Margaret Lee (Mark Seiffert), Emerson Fort, and John Alford (Linda Odom), who predeceased her in 2016. In addition to two surviving children, Mrs. Meggs is survived by four grandchildren, a great-granddaughter, and many beloved nieces and nephews. Memorials may be made to Vanderbilt University School of Nursing, Gift and Donor Services PMB 407727, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37240-7727; to the Adams United Methodist Church, 7538 Highway 41N, Adams, TN 37010; or to a local museum of one's choice. Austin & Bell Funeral Home in Springfield is in charge of these arrangements. AUSTIN & BELL FUNERAL HOME- 509 WALNUT STREET, SPRINGFIELD, TN (615) 384-1000

Margaret Wilkerson Fort Meggs

May 25, 1925 - June 7, 2023