Gay (McLawhorn) Love

Gay McLawhorn Love died peacefully in her home on May 28, 2020, less than three weeks shy of her 91st birthday. Gay was a teacher, businesswoman, community leader, and philanthropist - but above all a loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She leaves behind countless family members and friends who loved her dearly.

Gay was a farm girl, the second of four daughters, born June 16, 1929 on the eve of the Great Depression to Dennis Torbet and Madge Jenkins McLawhorn of Winterville, NC. Her father was a successful farmer and her mother a former teacher, and both were people of deep faith. Gay grew up immersed in the activities of the local Baptist Church, especially the church choir where she found her love of music which became for her a lifelong avocation. In high school she was a good student and varsity basketball player and was admitted to Duke University in 1947, following in the footsteps of her older sister Mamie. At Duke, she majored in English and education, joined the Phi Mu sorority, and was a faithful member of the Duke Chapel Choir. She also loved being a regular cast member of the Hoof ‘n Horn musical theater and was a part of five musicals during her Duke career.

After graduation from Duke in 1951, Gay moved to Atlanta to work in sales and merchandising for Rich’s Department Store. Soon after moving to town, she met J. Erskine Love Jr., a young Georgia Tech graduate and aspiring entrepreneur from Greenwood, SC., and their “Love Story” began. After a brief courtship, Gay and Erskine were married in her hometown of Winterville on February 6, 1954.

They quickly became a very busy couple. Between 1955 and 1962, five of their six children were born (number six came along in 1971), and in 1956, with the full emotional and financial support of his new wife, Erskine started a new business, which he called Printpack, that printed and produced packaging for processed foods. On a day-to-day basis, Gay was the household CEO and Erskine ran Printpack, but they were close partners in everything they did throughout their long marriage.

Over the next three decades, the lives of Gay and Erskine were busy but happy, focused on the activities of their six children and the growth and success of their family business. But Gay’s life was not without its share of sadness, and tragedy struck in 1987 when Erskine died unexpectedly from a heart attack at the age of 58. His untimely death upended Gay’s life and understandably challenged her faith. But somehow through her grief and sadness, she found a strength inside her that she probably did not know she had. She threw herself into working with her five sons to continue to build Printpack and chaired the board of the company for the next eighteen years, during which time it became an undisputed leader and one of the largest companies in its sector of the packaging industry.

During those years, Gay also expanded her interests in the charitable world. She had always been very active in her church, Trinity Presbyterian, through the activities of the Women of the Church and in her 35-year commitment to the church choir. She helped establish and fund the Agape Youth and Family Center, an outreach mission founded by Trinity in the Bolton Road area of Atlanta. After Erskine’s death she also served in important roles for a number of diverse charitable organizations. She chaired fundraising balls for the American Heart Association and Piedmont Hospital, she led capital campaigns for both the Center for Puppetry Arts and the Atlanta Mission, and she was board chair of Hillside Hospital, to name a few. She was also a generous benefactor to many other organizations including Duke University, Georgia Tech, the Westminster Schools, Columbia Theological Seminary, the Woodruff Arts Center, and the Boy Scouts of America. On National Philanthropy Day, she was recognized by the Atlanta chapter of the Association of Fundraising Professionals as the Volunteer Fundraiser of the Year in 1994 and as the Philanthropist of the Year in 2002, one of only a handful of people ever so honored with both awards.

In 2003, tragedy struck Gay’s family again when her fifth child Bill, his wife Beth Brumley Love, and their 12-year-old daughter Sarah were killed in a plane crash along with nine other members of Beth’s family while on vacation in Kenya. Again her faith was challenged, but she ultimately drew comfort and strength from the hundreds of people from her extended family, members of her church, Printpack associates, and the Atlanta community who rallied around her and the other families affected, supporting them in their time of great need. Because of the loss of her loved ones she forever felt a special connection to anyone who had lost a spouse or child prematurely.

In her later years, Gay had more time to pursue her personal passions, including travel, gardening, and grandchildren. She loved exploring new places and took multiple cruises and trips with friends and family to Europe, Africa, South America, China, Vietnam, Israel, and Egypt. Having grown up on a farm she was an expert gardener, and her roses were universally admired. Gayma, as they called her, was adored by her grandchildren. She established a tradition for their twelfth birthdays of pairing each one with a cousin to take on a special trip, like Alaska, London, or Washington DC. She was also a big sports, music, and theater fan, and rarely missed an important grandchild game or performance, even ones outside of Atlanta.

Gay Love’s life was characterized by kindness and compassion, by service to others, by strength and determination, and by her lasting impression on every institution that she touched. Nowhere is her legacy manifested more clearly than through the love and the values she imparted to her six children and their spouses, her twenty-one grandchildren and their spouses, and her seven (and counting) great-grandchildren. For those gifts, her family is eternally grateful.

Gay Love is survived by:

Her children: Dennis Love and Betts Love, Jimmy Love (Sarah Ellen), Carol Anne Love Jennison (George), Keith Love (Barbra), and David Love (Valerie).

Her grandchildren: Catherine Love Kraft (Kenny), Dennis Love Jr., Alison Love Seiler (John Gray), and Reid Love; Erskine Love (Blair), Margy Love, Walter Love, and Frank Love; Jay Jennison (fiancé Emily Lewis-LaMonica), David Jennison (Jennifer), Christie Jennison, Kaki Jennison, Jessie Love Jennison, Katie Love Jennison, and Hannah Love Jennison; Emily Love and Janie Love; and Maggie Love, William Love, and Rebecca Love.

Her great-grandchildren: Hodge, Betts, and Hanle Kraft; Gray Seiler; Palmour Love; and Jack and Charlie Jennison.

Her sisters: Denyse Smith of Robersonville, NC and JoAnne Padgett (Doug) of Atlanta, GA.

She is also survived by twelve devoted nieces and nephews.

Gay was predeceased by her husband Erskine Love; son Bill, daughter-in-law Beth, and granddaughter Sarah Love; sister and brother-in-law Mamie and Kenneth Dews of Winterville, NC; and brother-in-law Irving Smith of Robersonville, NC.

The Love family is forever thankful for the six wonderful ladies who took such loving and expert care of Gay in the last few years of her life: Lori Redd, Carol Samuels, Justina Braggs, Mari Pratt, Lois Anko-Dari, and Joko Folaji. They are also grateful to trainer Lee Martin who for over a decade helped Gay maintain her physical fitness.

A memorial service will be held for the immediate family on Gay’s birthday, June 16, 2020, at 2:00 at Trinity Presbyterian Church. The service will be streamed live, and the family invites all who knew and loved Gay to tune in. Details will be available on the Trinity website, trinityatlanta.org. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts can be made in Gay’s honor at any of the following organizations: Trinity Presbyterian Church, Agape Youth and Family Center, Atlanta Mission, Center for Puppetry Arts, American Heart Association, and Emory University Goizueta Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center.