Leta Mae Register Folsom

On Saturday, March 9, 2019 Leta Mae Register Folsom joined her husband S.G. and her heavenly Father who she had loved and served her entire life. Waiting for her were her mother and father, her sisters and her brother, along with a host of friends and other family members. Leta’s last residence was Sunrise Assisted Living, in Lawrenceville, Georgia, where she and her cat, Booger, lived for nearly 2 ½ years. Leta was born April 5, 1929 in Dupont, Georgia, to the late William Sherman Register and Cassie Register. She went to Clinch County Schools and graduated from Clinch County High School. Still in her teens, she and her sister, Juanita, boarded a bus and went to Atlanta where they worked as switchboard operators for Bell Telephone for a short time. Not enjoying the life of a big city, she and Juanita came back home to Clinch County. In 1947, at the age of nineteen, she met and married S.G. Folsom, Sr. who later became Reverend S.G. Folsom but that didn’t happen for another ten years. During that span of time, Leta would take her children to church at Lee Street Baptist and later Northside Baptist Church, either by herself or with her father in law and her mother in law Shearer and Elizabeth Folsom. This eventually prompted S.G., Sr. to start attending church which was something he had hardly ever done, and he had a major transformation. Leta’spersistence about taking her children to church and pushing S.G. came to fruition when S.G. finally found his Lord and Savior and was licensed as a Baptist preacher on February 25, 1959. Leta was with S.G. at every church he pastored and was an integral part of his ministry. Prior to S.G. becoming a Baptist preacher, he and Leta and their children attended a mission church of Northside Baptist named Emanuel (now Westside), which met in the most unlikely place, a used Circus tent with sawdust on the ground for flooring and a citrus grove smudge pot for heat. This is the place where Leta and S.G. really got their start in church ministry, which they were involved in for the rest of their lives. Leta was a homemaker and wonderful mother to her children and a faithful wife to S.G., but when her children were small, she had to work outside the home at Metal Products which manufactured automotive parts for cars and trucks. This was done out of necessity, not choice, but she never complained, she later worked at Telcom Communications. At that time, she still attended to her stubborn, stroke disabled dad who lived in the house with her family. Seven people in a really small house. She did not mind the cramped quarters at all. She never was one to complain, she would just do what was necessary. On April 5, 2019, she would have been ninety years old. She lived a very full life and traveled all over the world with S.G.
Survivors include one daughter and son in law, Karen and Lee Pennington of Lawrenceville, three sons and daughters in law, William R. Folsom (Carol, deceased), of Valdosta, Griffin and Jeanie Folsom of Greensboro, and Kenneth and Linda Folsom, of Conyers; her grandchildren, Ian Folsom, Alan Folsom (Julie) of Valdosta, Alison and Megan Folsom of Birmingham, AL, Seth Pennington and Erin Zapata of Lawrenceville, Joshua Harris (Kamie); her great grandchildren, River William Dean Folsom of Hammond, LA, Evan Griffin Folsom and Emily Morgan Folsom of Valdosta and Athens, Kaleb Pennington, Kallie Zapata, Karsen Zapata, and Kolton Zapata, all of Lawrenceville, Summer Harris, Dakota Harris, and Vivian Harris. She was preceded in death by her mother and father, her husband S.G., her sister Juanita Turner Clark, her sister Lillian Brown, and her brother, W.T. Register.
Funeral services will be held at 1 p.m., Wednesday, March 13, 2019, in the chapel of the Carson McLane Funeral Home with Rev. Bob Willis officiating. Burial will follow at McLane Riverview Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends on Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. at the funeral home. Condolences to the family may be conveyed online at www.mclanecares.com. Carson McLane.