Lillian Barnett
Lillian Magill Barnett, 100, died on Sunday, May 17, from being a hundred years old.
Lillian was born April 8, 1915 to Clemmie Cavender Magill and Charles H. Magill. Charles was a partner in a successful hardware store in downtown Chattanooga, occupying the space now taken by the TVA Federal Credit Union. Charles was struck down in the Great Flu Pandemic of 1918, dying when Lillian was three years old.
His widow undertook to raise Lillian and her siblings, Jane (Jack) and Warren Magill (all deceased). Lillian grew up in a house at the corner of Oak Street and Central Avenue, where the office of Dr. Pe Tin is now located. At that time Chattanooga was a town of less than 100,000. The eastern city limits ended at the end of the railroad viaduct, roughly at Holtzclaw Avenue. Highland Park, Missionary Ridge and Brainerd were all outside the city, much as Ooltewah and Collegedale are today.
Lillian attended Girls Preparatory School when it was still in Fort Wood, graduating in 1933. She took piano lessons from Marjorie Cadek , both in high school and college at the University of Chattanooga. Marjorie often said that Lillian was one of her few students that had professional potential. While at UC, Lillian was a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority.
Instead of a career as a piano soloist, Lillian elected to become a wife and mother, marrying Jackson Herman Barnett in 1939. Her husband died in 1979. They spent most of their marriage in Chattanooga, with a time in Indianapolis, Indiana from 1950 to 1965, when he was an executive for a chemical company there.
At the time of her husband’s death, Lillian was a volunteer at Erlanger Hospital. Shortly afterwards, she became a volunteer for Hospice of Chattanooga, a position she maintained for 35 years, until she stopped driving at the age of 96. She has been recognized as the longest-serving volunteer of Hospice, a record that stands to this day.
Lillian was an accomplished bridge player and a member of several foursomes in Chattanooga, Lookout and Signal Mountain.
Lillian and her husband joined the First Presbyterian Church in 1965. She was a member of the Sunday School Class presided over by Lee Anderson. Prior to that, she had been a member of the First Baptist Church. She donated her Steinway piano to the First Baptist Sunday School, which was once supervised by her brother Warren.
She is survived by her three sons: Dr. Charles Jackson (Sharon) Barnett, PhD. of Mount Pleasant, SC; Dr. Robert Burton (Diane) Barnett, MD. of Nashville and Destin, FL; and Warren Magill Barnett and his significant other Cherie Martinez of Chattanooga, four grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, and several nieces and nephews.
There will be a visitation at Wann Funeral Home this Wednesday, May 20, from 4-7 p.m. A graveside service in Forest Hills Cemetery will take place on Thursday, May 21, at 2:30 p.m. Reverend Chris Ehlers of First Presbyterian Church will officiate. Afterwards, a reception in Lillian Barnett’s honor will be held at the Mountain City Club on Thursday, May 21, from 4-7 p.m. The family will be in attendance. Those who knew Lillian or know her family are invited to attend.
In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made to Hospice of Chattanooga or Ronald McDonald House.
The family wishes to express its appreciation for all of those who made Lillian more comfortable in her last years, even as she had made those comfortable as a hospice volunteer.
Arrangements are by Wann Funeral Home.
Those who wish to leave a comment for the family can go to www.wannfuneralhome.com.