Mrs. Marie Culpepper

Marie was born and raised in her family home in Winder. She graduated from Winder High School in 1951. After graduation, Marie attended Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida, where she pledged Phi Mu Sorority. Marie transferred to the University of Tennessee to pursue a major in elementary education. Marie toured the world, enjoying sites everywhere from Europe to Cuba. After her travels, Marie moved to New York City to obtain her Masters in Education from New York University. She was, truly, a woman before her time.

Marie married Dr. Burford W. Culpepper in her parents’ home, a marriage that thrived for almost fifty years until Dr. Culpepper’s death from Alzheimer’s disease in 2007. During their marriage, they had two sons, Howard Wallace, born in 1959 in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Thomas Archibald, born in 1964 in Augusta, Georgia. Thanks to Dr. Culpepper’s military career, they lived all over the United States, including Georgia, Mississippi, Alabama, Colorado, Massachusetts, Texas, California, Nebraska, and Pennsylvania. Despite moving almost annually for many years, Marie had a successful career as a loving and enthusiastic elementary school teacher. She ended her career as a zany but no-nonsense fifth grade teacher in the Augusta, Georgia public school system.

In addition to her parents, Marie is preceded in death by her husband, Dr. Burford Culpepper, her son, Howard Culpepper, and her older brothers, Howard, George, and Gibson Perry.

Marie is survived by her son, Tom Culpepper, her grandson, Noah Howard Culpepper, her granddaughter, Caroline Stacey Culpepper, and her daughter in law, Gina Robeen Culpepper, all of Dallas, Texas. They will miss her humor, her wit, and her infectious laugh. Truly, when Marie laughed, spectators had no choice but to laugh along with her.

A Memorial Service to honor and celebrate Marie’s life will be held on Friday, January 13, 2018, at 11:00 A.M. in the Stateroom of Smith Funeral Home. Smith Memory Chapel is located at, 755 Atl. Hwy SE, Winder, GA 30680. The family will be receiving friends on Friday, from 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM prior to the service at the funeral home.

The family has respectfully requested that in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Marie’s memory to the Alzheimer’s Association at act.alz.org.

Smith Funeral Home, Winder, is entrusted with the arrangements.