Elzada Sue Lawson Ganaway, 77, of Big Canoe, GA passed away peacefully in the company of her family at her home on Sunday, September 13, 2026 after a lengthy natural illness. Elzada was born in Chattanooga, TN on September 15, 1948. 

How to describe this remarkable woman? As the song goes, how do you hold a moonbeam in your hand? Faithful Baptist; stand-out high lyric soprano in her high school choir; Miss Congeniality in the 1969 Miss Palm Beach County Beauty Pageant; B.S. honor graduate of Georgia State U.; early elementary school educator; devoted wife, mother and grandmother; life-long horse lover, Tennessee Walker breeder and competitive trail rider; dog lover; avid horticulturist and African Violet judge at Garden Club of Georgia (GCG) state flower shows; President of GCG’s Evergreen Garden Club; Nationally Accredited Environmental Consultant for the GCG, giving educational talks across the southeast on Butterflies, Wildflowers, Waterfalls of Georgia, Insects, Wildlife, and African Violets; avid Monarch butterfly conservationist; and Co-Chair of the GCG’s Roadside Beautification Program. Elzada was a member of the GCG since 1972, and was a life member of the GCG, the National Garden Club and the African Violet Society of America. She especially loved the family beachfront cottage in Chatham, Cape Cod, MA, her husband’s ancestral home.

 Hers was a life of model citizenship, faith, love for her family, love for animals and the environment, and an inherent belief in the goodness of others. Elzada was preceded in death by her father, George Henry Lawson Sr., her mother, the former Beula Bell Porter, her brother, George Henry Lawson Jr. and her sister, Beula Beatrice Smith. She is survived by her husband George Kenneth Ganaway; two daughters, Heather Lea Farthing (Robert) of Ellijay, GA and Erin Elizabeth Ganaway (Gavin Spencer) of Atlanta, GA; and two grandchildren, Collins Kendrick Dunn (Tori) and Elizabeth August Dunn. 

There are no plans for a local service. A graveside service for Elzada’s cremains will be held at the family burial site in Chatham, Cape Cod, MA at a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Big Canoe Animal Rescue, a no-kill animal rescue and shelter facility located in Big Canoe, GA.