Maxwell Ann Maxine Whittle

Maxwell D. Whittle, 74, died at her home in Nashville after a lengthy illness on Monday, May 20, 2013. Visitation will be Wednesday, May 22, 2013 at the West End Church of Christ in Nashville, Tennessee at 10-12 noon followed by a memorial service at noon. She will be interred in Macon, Georgia. Visitation in Macon will be at the Mortuary of Macon Memorial Park Thursday, May 23, 2013 followed by a service in the mausoleum chapel at 11:00 AM Friday, May 24, 2013. Maxine was born October 24, 1938, in Macon, Bibb County, Georgia to the late Hamlet H. and Marcella Tyler Dumas. Maxwell is survived by her husband of nearly fifty-five years, Charles Whittle, her four children: Tamara Kay (Richard) Karsten of Lenexa, Kansas; Dr. Allison Paige Whittle of Memphis, Tennessee, Charles Russell (Lauren) Whittle of Boston, Massachusetts, and Kecia Michelle (Ciaran) Murphy of Glen Ellyn, Illinois; and seven grandchildren: Lauren Elisabeth, John Terrell, and Cole Tyler Karsten; Maxwell Hampton, Elisabeth Marcella, and Colin James Murphy; and Katherine Glennon Whittle. She is also survived by a brother, Richard Carlton Dumas (Rosemary) of Macon and two nephews Ralph E. Geiger of Huntsville, Alabama and Richard T. Dumas of Macon. She is survived, as well, by her extended children: Lotte Klastup Newlin, formerly of Denmark and now Morristown, New Jersey; Dr. Jose Carlos Ludwig of Curitiba, Brazil; and Jose Dario Liberona de la Fuente of Santiago, Chile, foreign exchange students who entered Maxine’s life thirty years ago and stayed a part of her family’s life ever since. Maxine was preceded in death by her sister, Gaynell D. Geiger. Although Maxine left Macon as a teenager, she always enjoyed going home to visit and attend class reunions. She particularly enjoyed seeing childhood friends. She always enjoyed the family’s traditional summer stays at Anna Maria Island, Florida, which was part vacation and part family reunion. Maxine was an avid traveler. She had traveled extensively in Europe, Asia, and South America, particularly Brazil and Chile. For the past seven years Maxine knew that illness would probably limit her travel so she made her “bucket list” of must see places including the Galapagos Islands, the extreme southern end of South America to see the penguins, and her final trip to Churchill, Canada this past October to see the polar bears in their natural habitat. She had earlier visited China and its Great Wall and Southeast Asia including the Angkor Wat complex in Cambodia before it became a popular tour destination. She ventured to Russia on numerous occasions, once to magnificent Lake Baikal. Her recent and less exotic travel destinations were a Danube River cruise and trips to the Caribbean. She traveled extensively in the United States including the Southwest, Northwest, Alaska, and Hawaii. Maxwell began her education in the Bibb County School System attending Alexander II and Pearl Stephens Elementary Schools, Miller Junior and Senior High Schools. She earned an Associate of Arts degree from Young Harris in 1958. She delayed completing her higher education until her oldest child was in high school. She earned both her Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Education degree from the School of Education, Boston University. She did Post Graduate studies at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. She also took a Program of Education in Therapy for Specific Reading Disability at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston using the Orton-Gillingham Reading Method for Individuals with Dyslexia. Maxine retired from the Massachusetts education system in 2001 with over twenty years of service. She was a Special Education Teacher, Lincoln-Sudbury High School, Lincoln, Massachusetts and a Therapeutic Teacher, Natick High School in Natick. From 1991-2005 she actively assisted her husband as a missionary to Russia. In 2007 Maxine and Charles relocated to Nashville, Tennessee where they have been members of the West End Church of Christ. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Maxwell’s honor to Maxine D. Whittle Endowed Scholarship, Lipscomb University, One University Park Drive, Nashville, TN 37204.