Margaret “Peg” Lindsay Bookout
Margaret “Peg” Lindsay Bookout passed away on a beautiful Monday morning, January 16, 2023, after a brief illness.
Peg lived most of her life in East Brainerd residing the most recent 25 years less than a mile from the house in which she was born on June 13, 1931, 40 years before I-75 would separate the two locations. She personally experienced East Brainerd growing from a rural community to a bustling suburb of Chattanooga and could recall agrarian anecdotes such as travel by mule on East Brainerd Road. Her parents were well-known, respected residents and Lindsay Avenue off Graysville Road is her father’s namesake.
An only child, she developed lifelong dear friendships with schoolmates, church friends, coworkers and five close double first cousins. Most significant among those friendships was her 70 years of marriage to her high school sweetheart Bob Bookout.
A devout Christian, Peg attended Concord Baptist Church for her entire 91 years aside from a short time living in Birmingham and a few other jaunts which were arranged by the US Army while Bob served during the Korean conflict. Over the years she eagerly participated in many activities of the church including the WMU and teaching Sunday School. Handwritten scriptures decorated her kitchen and her family will miss the comfort of being consistently prayed for.
A Tyner High School class of 1949 graduate, she later attended the University of Chattanooga (now UTC) as an adult, married mother, earning a degree in education. Prior to UC she worked as an artist at Olan Mills using oils and airbrushes, colorizing and retouching black & white portraits before smartphones and image filters made it easy. Her next career was in the Catoosa County school system, at several schools, in varied roles including teaching art. Later she and her husband Bob recognized that her art talent and his decades of experience in the printing industry made them a perfect match to purchase the Koenig Art Emporium at Hamilton Place Mall. They operated that store for 10 years, selling art and drafting supplies to local professional artists, sign painters and students along with consumer products such as fountain pens and custom picture framing. During that period they worked tirelessly seven days per week and made many friends of other mall workers, employees and customers.
Peg was a lifelong learner, memorizing poetry and scripture in her adolescence and continuing to enjoy art and sewing projects, reading and working on genealogy records until weeks before her passing. After she became a widow at 89 she embraced the computer and began emailing friends and family. She was selfless with her talents, always available to replace a button or hem a skirt and during retirement she sewed over 700 dresses for little girls which she donated to ministries in Africa. She taught English as a Second Language at Concord where she made several long-term friends.
Peg and Bob enjoyed RV traveling as retirees but her primary role was as caretaker of her centenarian mother, husband, grandchildren and even great-grandchildren whom she not only nurtured but tutored academically. She was a great-great-grandmother for several years and absolutely adored the little ones.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Frankye and Virgil Lindsay, infant sister Mary Francis Lindsay, son Charles Lindsay Bookout and husband Harold Robert “Bob” Bookout. Remaining relatives include a daughter, Alice Barlew (Leon Graham), grandsons, Jared (Kelly) Barlew and Jordan Barlew, great-grandchildren, Jake (Robert) Card-Johnson, Kyle (Brittany) Bowman, Lindsay (Jacob) Warner and Allison (Connor) Eischeid and great-great-grandsons, Oliver Card-Johnson, Crew Warner and Coen Eischeid.
Visitation will be at Heritage Funeral Home, 7454 East Brainerd Road, from 4-7 p.m. on Thursday, and 10-11 a.m. on Friday with a service to follow at 11 a.m. on Friday. Interment will be at the Chattanooga National Cemetery.