Lisa Joy Lastinger

Lisa Joy Lastinger, age 60, passed away peacefully Monday, February 26, 2024, at her residence in Acworth, GA.  A memorial service to celebrate her life will be held, May 18, 2024 at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church at 11:00 a.m.

Lisa was born in Griffin, GA, and lived her early years in Swainsboro, GA, Louisville, KY and Nicholasville, KY, before moving with her family to Sandersville, GA in 1972 where she attended Washington County High, class of 1981. She also attended Georgia College in Milledgeville before traveling to Kansas City, MO to live with her sister Debi and attend William Jewell College, subsequently establishing a long residence in the Kansas City area. There she began her career in management while raising her family.  In 2006 she returned to the Atlanta area and worked in commercial real-estate.  Lisa had a passion for cooking and spent many happy hours planning and preparing meals with her father, her sisters, her children, and her nieces.  She particularly loved baking and decorating cakes for her loved one’s celebrations, and perfecting historical and familial recipes. Her favorite place to be, was at her family's vacation home on Lake Sinclair.  She also possessed a love for reading, animals and art and spent many hours researching and recording historical facts and anecdotes concerning the Lastinger family.

Lisa is predeceased by her father, Reverend Marlon Emerson Lastinger and her twin sister, Lora Lastinger Langley. She is survived by her children, Marissa Christian Miller and Grant Emerson Smith, both of Colorado, and Aimee Pelagie Smith of Acworth, GA.; one granddaughter, Dakota Carolyn Smith; her mother, Joyce Ferguson Cawley of Smyrna and her stepmother, Ann Lastinger of Sandersville; sisters, Debi Lastinger of Lansing, Michigan, Cara DeCelles of Green Mountain, NC., Ellen Lastinger Curry of Jasper, GA, and Randy Lastinger of Hagerstown, MD; step-siblings Lonnie Pate of Springfield GA, Terea Jacobs of Eatonton GA,  and her many beloved nieces and nephews. Although devastated by the death of her twin sister, Lora, in 2011, she found her greatest joy at the end of her life in the gift of her granddaughter, Dakota.

Donations can be made to the "Dakota Smith Education Fund" c/o Citizens Bank of the South, P O Box 836, Sandersville, GA 31082.

May and Smith Funeral Directors is in charge of these arrangements.