Sara Minta McIntyre Bahner
Sara Minta McIntyre Bahner began her next adventure on October 28, 2023; she joined her beloved husband of 66 years, Thomas Maxfield Bahner, who died 15 days earlier.
She was born June 19, 1933 in Lumberton, North Carolina, where she spent a happy childhood with her parents, Clara Margaret Pope McIntyre and Robert Allen McIntyre, and her brother, “Bob” R.A. McIntyre, Jr. Sara played high school basketball and was head cheerleader, and she had a wonderful group of friends at school and church who made small town life a delight. Her family spent every summer at Wrightsville Beach where they often hosted house parties attended by many life-long friends, including Sara Alice Hackney, Vicki Clements, Obie Lee, and many others. She attended Agnes Scott College for two years and then transferred to Wake Forest where she majored in sociology and philosophy. She was a member of Phi Beta Kappa and graduated summa cum laude. She then continued her schooling at the Carver School of Church Social Work where she earned a master's degree. It was also there that she met the love of her life, Thomas Maxfield Bahner.
Sara and Max began married life at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville where Sara worked in the office of the dean of the medical school and Max attended law school.
In Charlottesville, Sara and Max welcomed their first child, Maxfield Tabb Bahner. After graduation, they moved to Chattanooga where they welcomed three daughters to the family (Sara Margaret, Minta Susan and Margaret Catharine). The family made their home at “Songwood,” on Signal Mountain.
Sara and Max loved to travel. Together, they traveled the world from Europe to Africa to Asia to South America. They also loved traveling with the friends they met through the American Bar Association. However, their favorite excursion was to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, a trip they have been taking each year since 1971.
Sara and Max had a true marriage of equals. They debated theology and art, sang harmony on car trips and at church services, and never missed a chance to tell each other of their love. While they were very much a united front, they would occasionally cancel each other’s votes by voting for opposing candidates in various elections. While they agreed on most things, they were true to themselves and their beliefs. Theirs was a rare alchemy of two strong people knitted together into a strong and loving couple. They loved to recite poetry. When twilight yielded to darkness and stars at night, they would quote Milton together: “Now came still evening on, and twilight gray/Had in her sober livery all things clad…/Silence was pleas'd. Now glow'd the firmament/With living sapphires…”
Sara shared her talents with the wider world in many ways. She worked for Signal Mountain Social Services. For many years, she served as a volunteer with READ Chattanooga. She was a member of the Symphony Guild, and a volunteer builder of the Pumpkin Patch on Signal Mountain. For decades, she sang in the choir at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and was a long-time member of the Becky Wright Bible Study Class. She supported Max in all of his professional endeavors which were many. She was active in the Bar Auxiliary and their book club. In addition, she was a member of the Signal Ladies Investment Club, “SLIC'', which was regarded for its shrewd investments! Among her many interests, she also studied modern dance with Nancy Lane Wright and attended many conferences throughout the United States to study liturgical dance. Her creativity also led her to write beautiful poetry over the course of her decades-long marriage. She published three books of her poetry.
Sara had a gentle and graceful way of living life and loving others. She met life’s sorrows – the loss of two children – and joys – becoming a wife, mother, poet, dancer – with steady resolve and strength.
Family members who have gone on before include her mother, father, brother, two of her children, Sara (Sally) Margaret Bahner at the age of six months, and son, Maxfield Tabb Bahner at the age of 34, and most recently, her spouse of 66 years, Thomas Maxfield Bahner. Sara is survived by her two daughters and their husbands: Susan Bahner Lancaster and Frank Lancaster of Knoxville, Tennessee, and Catharine Bahner Daniels (Lillard) and David Lillard of Chattanooga, Tennessee. Sara adored her grandchildren: Michael, Thomas and Max Lancaster, Sara Catharine Daniels, and step-grandchildren, Jackson and Mason Lillard. She is also survived by her “chosen sisters,” sisters-in- law, Molly Bahner Day (Grafton, VA) and Frances Bahner Hendricks (Charlotte, NC) and their husbands James Day and LeRoy Hendricks, and many nieces and nephews and their children.
A portion of one of Sara’s poems is a fitting lyric: “See/ A drum beat to the grave is not what I want./I want a waltz, a pirouette, a Charleston/ A liturgical dance, a boogie-woogie!/I want singing–in harmony–/I want a feast of delight with family & friends./I want to say ‘Thank you!’ for this one life.”
A memorial service for Sara and Max Bahner will take place at St. Paul's Episcopal Church on Friday, Nov. 10, at 1 p.m.
Memorial gifts may be made to Orange Grove Center, 615 Derby Street Chattanooga, Tn. 37404 or St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, 305 W. 7th St., Chattanooga, Tn. 37402, memo- Music Fund. The family extends sincere thanks to the caring community that supported Sara and Max in recent months.
Arrangements are by Heritage Funeral Home & Crematory, Battlefield Parkway.
Visit www.heritagebattlefield.com to share condolences with the family.