Maida Ragan Evans

Maida is survived by her husband of 52 years, Baxter Evans of Forsyth; their daughters Ragan Lewis (Phil) of Asheville, NC and Jennie Ridley (Alec) of Forsyth, and her grandchildren Baxter Lewis, Hamilton Ridley & Betty Ridley. She is also survived by her sister Pat Johnson (Charley) of Milledgeville, Ga and her family and her brother Louis I. "Bubba" Ragan (Rose) of Perry and his family.

Maida was born in Perry, Georgia on July 26, 1950 to the late Louis Ingram Ragan and Betty Anderson Ragan. She was raised in in Henderson, Georgia and grew up as one of three siblings in this close-knit, family centered community. Next door to cousins with whom they shared a garden and playtime, and walking distance to their church, her childhood set the foundations of her life early on: Faith, Family, and Flowers.

Maida graduated from Perry High school then earned her Associates Degree from ABAC.

Immediately after graduation, Maida moved to Macon, Ga and went to work at The Macon Chamber of Commerce where she was an Executive Secretary and met life- long friends as well as her husband, Baxter.

As a wife she constantly aimed to be the helpmate Baxter needed. And he cherished her. Their marriage was a joint venture of love and respect. Each added to the dynamic what the other lacked. For 52 years they made a beautiful life together. It was a marriage of opposites sustained by a deep shared faith and complementary work-ethics unmatched anywhere on earth.

Early in their marriage Maida and Baxter got a cat. It set a precedent that their home would always include at least one pet. And it has. For over 50 years they have been the most conscientious pet owners on the planet. Surviving pet hardships and tragedies and reveling in their affections, Maida and Baxter were always aware that these creatures were an extension of their Creator’s capacity to teach unconditional love.

Maida's love for animals, as intense as it was, could not come close to that she had for her family and especially her children. As a mom, for daughters Ragan and Jennie, Maida never did anything halfway. She loved completely, planned meticulously, encouraged and cajoled, protected and enriched, always making activities of interest available for exploration and her arms open for a much-needed hug.

Expectations were high and no expense or effort spared in helping her children reach them. She modeled the love of her Savior. Enduring the pains of parenthood, for the joy set before her. Thankfully, she did not have to wait for eternity to enjoy some of the fruits of her parental labor, but counted her daughters as friends, confidants and spiritual companions on the journey of her later life.

She also showed her daughters how a mom can have a life of her own while fully supporting those of her children. Maida had hobbies and passions. She worked. And she helped her community.

When the season or business opportunity called for it, she worked alongside Baxter, diligently learning new skills and executing her duties with intensity. After they married, she helped manage the apartment complex they lived in and co-owned. Maida later became a Corporate Officer and Accounting Director for three corporations, while never missing a beat anywhere else.

Wanting to explore her own entrepreneurial instincts as well as supporting those of her husband, Maida became a Doncaster clothing consultant at the height of the 80's shoulder pad craze, and she and her partner successfully managed that business for over a decade, selling quality custom-sewn garments to ladies all over Middle Georgia.

In addition to her responsibilities within her home and business, Maida was ALWAYS helping others in her neighborhood, community and faith family worldwide. Action was her love language.

As a young married, she joined The Junior League of Macon and immediately took on leadership responsibilities like the relocation of The Bargain Box Thrift Shop and finding the new League headquarters building, where it is still housed today.

When Maida discovered her blood type was especially needed, she made it part of her regular routine for decades to give blood at the Red Cross, whose records indicate she gave faithfully for over 30 years.

She actively loved the people in her life and intentionally maintained relationships, including those with elderly neighbors after she moved away to other parts of town. She insisted on hosting them for special occasions and regularly called and visited with family updates and photos. She even took over the care of an elderly babysitter when his own family failed to do so, managing his care and estate all the way through probate.

As her husband, Baxter, began volunteering in area ministries and non-profits, Maida joined him to support these efforts. Going so far as to become an Auxiliary Member of The Salvation Army Board of Directors and faithfully assisting Baxter’s Gideon camp’s Memorial Bible donation programs for years.

She then found her own special interest ministries and spent the next several decades in Board membership and support positions within both Save-a-Life and Covenant Care Ministries.

Maida's faith was central to her being. She was raised a faithful Baptist, became a Methodist after marriage and eventually found her true spiritual home within the Reformed Presbyterian Church Community, PCA.

Always one to put ideas into action and incapable of accepting the status quo anywhere, but especially in her faith walk, she has been involved in a Bible study most of her adult life. She attended and led Precepts classes in the 80's, learned and practiced Evangelism Explosion techniques, did years of Bible Study Fellowship and faithfully participated as a leader in the First Presbyterian Church Women's Bible Study. Most recently she was instrumental in reinvigorating a beautiful circle of sisters within the Women of the Word Bible study in her River Forest community.

Maida loved music. She played piano in her youth and was always so moved by the soulful singing of her fellow church goers that for years she made time to sing in her church choirs as well, joyfully glorifying God as part of her Sunday morning worship experience. Not only did she worship with her time and voice, but she also worshipped with flowers. She was a member of the First Presbyterian Alter Committee and enthusiastically created beautiful arrangements for Sunday services along with other special sisters in Christ.

She set an example of love in action and Biblical service by joining multiple youth group mission trips with both her daughters' age groups. From West Virginia to Romania and Ukraine, she went to help young people see and experience the joy of spreading the love of Jesus.

Not only did she continuously work to improve her community and faith-life, she was always working to maintain and improve her body, the Lord’s "temple." So, in all her free time (which was at 5 AM for years) Maida ran. And biked. And later walked. Likely over 30,000 miles, from her mid-twenties right through the week before her craniotomy. She competed in more than 20 half & full marathon races and even qualified for the Boston Marathon. She and Baxter ran the New York Marathon several times, once 8 months after breaking her neck! The more Maida moved, the happier she was. There was nothing better than calling her daughter at the end of a long day outside and reporting her step-count was well over 20,000.

Maida created community wherever she spent her time. After moving to River Forest in 2014, she created a whole new circle of friends, founded on her favorite things: the Bible, the garden and exercise. She founded the River Forest Garden Club, reignited a Bible study, took up Pickled Ball, and joined a women's investment club, where she served as an officer until her resignation last year. She had walking and biking buddies, yoga friends, pickle ball teammates, garden club pals, and Bible Study sisters, all of whom she loved hosting in her home and gardens.

While she had made great friends in her last few years for sure, she held her oldest friends, among them family members, in especially high esteem. These are people she has loved since high school, her twenties and her early married life. These relationships she tended to with special care and effort. Though she and Baxter continued to move geographically farther away, she would not allow these relationships to fall away, and always had connections with these special friends on her schedule.

Maida possessed and exercised the gift of “hosting’ and regularly opened her and Baxter’s home to lovingly tend to her people, hosting ladies for lunch, small dinner gatherings, Bible Studies, Garden Club, and family events like the annual “Evans Christmas Brunch” which was held in their home for almost 30 years.

Her social calendar may have stayed full. But there was ALWAYS time for the garden.

Maida lived to be in her yard with the Lord. Nothing was better than eight solid hours in the blazing Georgia heat, spraying weeds, cutting back and cleaning up, planting new finds, tending to her favorites, and of course picking up pinecones. And she loved to share her love and knowledge of plants. Walking her yard with friends and family brought her tremendous joy. And because she always wanted to share her love for the glory of God's creation, on rainy days when there were no weeds to pull, she made mirrored sun-catchers to reflect the rays of sun from the windows and porches of the people she loved and hand-pressed flower notecards on which to send encouraging messages.

She practiced “pass along" gardening, something she learned from her namesake grandmother, Grace, whose candelabra cactus has been divided and shared for over 30 years! She loved turning a compliment on a plant in her yard into an adoption ceremony. Carefully digging up a portion and lovingly, trustingly passing it on to a friend. How many of her friends have something from her yard or potting house? Untold sums to be sure. And her yard is covered in blooms from so many people and places as well, and each tells the story of a friendship.

But it wasn't just plants with roots Maida loved to share. She also loved to share her blooms, beautiful evidence of the Lord’s love and glory and regularly took time to create and deliver bouquets for new neighbors, sick friends, new moms and those she knew just needed a bright spot in their day. It is for this reason that her family has asked that everyone return the favor for her service and bring a stem or two of your favorite bloom or a cutting from your yard to help send her on her way, covered in God's beauty and love.

Even with all these activities, interests, hobbies and passions, she and Baxter rarely missed church at First Presbyterian. They may not have fully rested on Sundays (there was always something to do in the yard, after all), but they faithfully honored the worship part of the commandment, their whole marriage, even watching services online during her illness.

Maida and Baxter were both members of the Canterbury Sunday School class, but she usually left the learning to Baxter and instead went to hold the babies in the newborn nursery, where she had garnered a reputation as the crying baby whisperer. What a gift that was for new mothers craving spiritual sustenance.

And, oh, how Maida loved babies. So, there were no words to describe her joy at becoming a grandmother in 2014, again in 2017 than one last time in 2018. She traveled as much as she could to see and hold these precious little hands when they were far away and was always so happy to host them in her home. When her younger daughter, Jennie, and her family moved to Forsyth in 2020, it was a dream come true. And the road to and from Asheville was well worn. She was always happy to take her grandchildren out on "adventures", especially if it involved being outdoors, and each grandchild has a special favorite memory they will carry with them always. How they love her. And how each of their lives will be richer for having known her, even for these few years.

Maida lived well. She has left the world more beautiful, grace-filled, loved, nurtured, appreciated and improved. She has left her family completely bereft of her one-of-a-kind love, so intense, loyal and active. And yet also so soothed by the experience of that love and the knowledge it has now been magnified into perfection. She leaves her friends inspired to reach out, get up, speak up, look around, and squeeze out every ounce of the day.

And she left this earth knowing to her core she was loved completely, by her Savior whose face she eagerly awaited seeing, and by her family and her friends.

Maida left beautiful indelible marks on all she leaves behind. And we await with great living hope and anticipation our marvelous reunion, returning along with her and Jesus in Glory.

Her family wishes to thank all those who, through the Lord’s grace, have so diligently tended to her and her family's needs these past months. Without your love, support, food, prayers and comfort this season would have been unbearable.

Special thanks to Sabrina Davis, Shereka Binnie, Kelli Goolsby, Wendy Calloway, Veronica “Pat” Deshazier, and Tracey Watson who all cared for Maida body and soul these last months. These women are without equals.

A Celebration of Maida's Earthly life and Eternal Homegoing will be held at First Presbyterian Church, 682 Mulberry Street, Macon, on Friday, May 9, 2025, at 1:00 PM, with a visitation to follow in the Fellowship Hall.

A private graveside service will be held before her homegoing Celebration in Riverside Cemetery.

The family asks that in lieu of floral arrangements those attending the service please wear something green and bring a stem of a favorite flower or a cutting from their yards to "pass along" their love with the beauty of God's creation and to create a unique and personal send-off alter bouquet for Maida.

Those wishing to make memorial donations may do so at:

Caring Solutions (formerly Sav-A-Life), Covenant Care Adoption Services, Your Favorite Animal Shelter, Or the Monroe County Gideon Camp Memorial Bible Fund at PO Box 613 Forsyth, Ga 31029 or through the Gideon Ministry Website.

Snow's Memorial Chapel, Bass Road, has charge of arrangements.