Annie Martin Dickson

Annie Martin Dickson of Kennesaw, GA, passed away Friday, January 25, 2013, after a brief illness. She was 84. Funeral services for Ms. Dickson will be held 2:00 P.M. Monday January 28, 2013 at Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home in Marietta, GA, with Bishop Jonathan Babcock officiating. Burial will follow at Georgia Memorial Park in Marietta, GA. Visitation will be held Sunday afternoon 4 – 6 P.M. at the funeral home. Annie Martin Dickson was born in Peekskill, New York, on June 29, 1928. Her parents were Andrew Melrose Dickson and Barbara Eadie Baird. At the age of three, Annie’s mother took her and her sister back to Scotland because economic conditions in the United States were so dire. They stayed in Edinburgh until Annie had reached the age of nine. At that point they returned to upstate New York where Annie completed school. Shortly after graduation, Annie met Frank P. Smith, a Navy veteran just home from the war. They were married in 1946, and began travelling extensively due to Frank’s employment in the aerospace industry. Over the next few years, Annie set up housekeeping in New York, Florida, California, South Carolina, Massachusetts, back to California, then on to Germany. In 1965, their life of travel changed as Frank came to Marietta. During these years Frank and Annie had four children. Gerard Norman Smith and Diana Lynn Smith were born in New York. Linda Ann Smith was born in California, and Tracy Martin Smith was born in Germany. After settling in Kennesaw in 1964, Annie continued to raise her kids. She worked for several years for Kennestone Hospital, providing administrative coverage for emergency room operations and caring for other employees’ children in the day care center. After the hospital, Annie went to work for Hanes Industries, providing support to sales activities. She worked at Hanes for several years until she began working with her daughter to provide quality control services to the mortgage industry. During her years in Kennesaw while raising her children and working she also acquired expertise in woodworking and cabinetry, and provided much beautiful finishing on handsome wooden watercraft. Annie and Frank’s marriage ended in 1983. Annie continued to live in the house where her children had been raised, and Frank remarried. After Frank’s death in 1986, Annie’s relationship with Walter Edwin Anderson matured and prospered; in 1988 they began sharing a household together, a relationship that has endured. Annie has six grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. For over thirty years she has been involved with the Kennesaw congregation of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Throughout her life, Annie maintained a close relationship with various four-legged companions. She embraced the concept of the Rainbow Bridge, and openly wondered about the care of all her furry friends when they were back together. Annie loved to travel, and especially enjoyed going off with her daughter in the motor home. Just the two ladies, off on the road to face many adventure. Connecticut where she could visit with cousins who had been childhood friends was one of her favorite destinations. Charleston with its good seafood and many historic attractions was another place she liked to go. She always enjoyed the trips where her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren could visit together. Disney World was a favored destination for this sort of trip. Over her life, Annie has faced several health crises. She suffered from severe migraines when she was a younger woman, but with maturity came some relief for that affliction. She had conquered breast cancer, and was continuing the fight with control of her blood pressure. She succumbed January 25 to a massive hemorrhagic stroke. Mayes Ward-Dobbins Funeral Home & Crematory in Marietta, Georgia is in charge of the arrangements.

Annie Martin Dickson

June 29, 1928 - January 25, 2013