Martha Geraldine Blackmon

Martha Geraldine Dunn Blackmon (Gerry) died peacefully Saturday, October 29 at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, surrounded by her family. She had moved, only days before, into her independent living apartment at Spring Harbor after months of rehabilitation in a series of facilities while recovering from a severe stroke that she suffered in December of 2015.

She was born January 11, 1935 in Aragon, Georgia, to John H. Dunn and Ida Dunn. She attended Aragon School and graduated from Rockmart High School in 1953, where she was a cheerleader, played basketball, was in Beta club, and participated In theatrical productions. She worked after school as a cashier at a drug store in Rockmart. She said of those years, "I was always in love," "I loved to dance," and "it was difficult finding a boy who could dance." She would later attend the University of Georgia.

After graduation from high school, Gerry worked at Lockheed Aircraft in Marietta, Georgia. On a blind date in February of 1954, she met a man who could dance, Whit Blackmon. Her impression of him was that "he was funny and good looking." They were married in August of that year, in Havre de Grace, Maryland, where he was stationed in the United States Army at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds. While Whit was overseas in Korea, she worked at Rich's Department Store in Atlanta. In 1956 they moved to Columbus, where she worked briefly for Burnham Van Lines in the bookkeeping department before taking a job at WRBL Television and Radio Station as Ridley Bell's secretary. In a few years they started a family, and she became a full time homemaker.

She was a member of the St. Luke Fellowship class, the Adelphian Study Club, the Jaycettes, the Ivy Garden Club. She was the founder of the Averett Woods Garden Club. She loved decorating her home, cooking, traveling, dancing, playing bridge and reading.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her brothers, Wesley Dunn, David Dunn, John Dunn, Jr., Richard Dunn, and sisters Edna Dunn Williams and Jewel Dunn DeYoung. She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Wilson Whitaker Blackmon, daughter Susan Blackmon Watson and her husband, Jay, of Oxford, MS, son Brian Whitaker Blackmon and his wife, Kristi, of Columbus, sisters Dotty Dunn Flood of Richmond VA, and Sue Dunn Whitfield of Los Angeles CA, grandchildren Katherine Dunn Watson of New York City, Judson Durward Watson IV of Jackson MS, Seth Blackmon-Seckinger of Columbus, and Sierra Whitaker Blackmon of Columbus, in addition to many nieces and nephews.

The family would like to extend extreme gratitude to the staff in the Emergency and ICU units at Saint Francis Hospital, Midtown Specialty Hospital, Regional Rehabilitation Hospital, Northside Medical Center, the Trauma and Medical ICU units at Grady Memorial Hospital, and especially the Skilled Nursing and Physical Therapy units at Spring Harbor.

There will be a celebration of Gerry's life at St. Luke United Methodist Church at 11:00 a.m. Thursday, November 3, followed by a luncheon visitation in Stockwell Fellowship Hall. A private family burial will take place in Parkhill Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a memorial donation to St. Luke United Methodist Church Food Pantry (http://www.stlukeum.com/) or Valley Rescue Mission of Columbus (http://www.valleyrescuemission.org/)