Allene Marchant Ragan passed away peacefully on April 19 in the home of her daughter, Susan Ragan Watkins, in Rome, GA, after a brief illness.
A native of Tift County, Georgia, she graduated from Tift County High School in 1947 before attending the Grady Memorial Hospital School of Nursing in Atlanta, from which she graduated in 1952. That same year she married Willie Hugh “Bill” Ragan, Jr. They had four children, Terri, Susan, Richard and Randy.
In her nursing career Allene worked for Grady Hospital, eventually becoming head nurse of Obstetrics. She later worked at Davison’s Department Store in Atlanta as an Industrial Nurse. She made a career switch when she was hired by Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Atlanta as Supervisor of Blue Shield Claims Department. From there she worked with Georgia Medicare Part B Insurance program through John Hancock then Prudential. In the final years of her successful career, she was recruited by Health Care Compare, and later Aetna, both in Savannah.
She and Bill retired to their Savannah residence in 1997, then they moved to Macon in 2006. When Bill passed away in 2008, she moved to Rome, GA, to be closer to her children.
She was preceded in death by her husband Bill, her daughter Teresa (Terri) Ragan Guthrie, her parents Rufus Marchant and Willie Belle Heath Marchant, and her brother and sister-in-law Roy and Edwina Marchant.
She is survived by her daughter Susan (Jim) Watkins, her sons Richard (Linda) Ragan and Randy (Liz) Ragan, grandchildren Will (Julia) Watkins and Sam Watkins, Katie Ragan and Courtney Ragan, Christen Ragan, Jessica Maldonado (Tomás) Espinoza and Tracee Guthrie (Erik) LeMay, her great-grandchildren Zaria Maldonado, Michael Espinoza and Analise Espinoza, John Lawrence Watkins and Silas Watkins., her brother Billy (Kay) Marchant, and her nephews Paul (Debbie) Marchant, Pat (Cindy) Marchant, Mike (Kelly) Marchant and Brian (Lisa) Marchant.
The funeral will be held at Bowen-Donaldson Funeral Services in Tifton, GA, on Saturday, April 22. Visitation 10:00 to 11:00 a.m., funeral service at 11:00 followed by burial service at Ty Ty Cemetery.