Georgia Lou Braden Rohan

Georgia Lou Braden Rohan was born on April 24, 1948, in Richmond Virginia. She was the daughter of John Stuart Braden and Millicent Bristow Braden, both deceased. After a life-long battle with chronic kidney disease, Georgia passed away peacefully in her sleep on July 8th, 2025. She is survived by her husband of 42 years, Laurence, her children, Tiffany Williams (Antar), of Tallahassee, FL, Laurence Jr. (Erika), of Hendersonville, NC, and Douglas (Julia), of Atlanta, GA, nine grandchildren (Dakota, Summer, Andres, Lauren, Alex, Javier, Vivian, Claudia, and Evelyn), and numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews, in Viginia, Florida, and North Carolina, all of whom she knew and loved very much. Georgia was predeceased by her musically gifted brother, John Stuart Braden, Jr., whom she thereafter kept in her heart, ever so proud of his many talents and accomplishments.

In spite of her long illness, which included two kidney transplants and 25 years of hemodialysis, Georgia lived a remarkable life! She moved from Richmond to Miami with her family when she was 13 years old. She attended Southwest High School and Florida State University, studying insurance and finance, ultimately earning her degree as a Certified Financial Planner in July 1989. That same year she was named Agent of the Year.

Her career was cut short by her kidney disease, however, when in 1991, she received her first kidney transplant. Eight years later, she received a second one, this donation from her beloved husband.

During her transplant years, and despite her illness, Georgia was active in the transplant community and served on the Board of Directors of the South Florida Transplant Association, where her main area of interest was patient education. She was a constant presence at transplant clinics and hospital rooms where she spent time talking to patients waiting for organ transplants or recovering from their surgeries, as well as to the patients’ families, providing encouragement and reassurance that they would have a good outcome. She encouraged family members to be organ donors. She visited dialysis clinics and encouraged patients to consider transplantation. She appeared at high schools and community forums encouraging young and old to become organ donors. In 1990 she established the first transplant/dialysis support group in Miami-Dade County, encouraging doctors and other medical providers to attend and answer questions and concerns of the patients who were facing a future of dialysis or transplantation. For these works and others, she received the Outstanding Volunteer Award in 1994, Volunteer of the Year Award in 1996, and the Miracle Maker Award in 1999.

In 2000, after the second transplant failed, she began dialysis. She moved to Asheville in 2004, and began right where she left off, establishing the first dialysis/transplant support group in Buncombe County; and when she became aware that many patients who were on dialysis could not afford both their medications and their food, she started a food pantry, providing monthly meals to 35 patients. When she learned that in-center hemodialysis treatments were not as efficient as overnight dialysis (less than half as effective), she fought to establish a nocturnal in-center program in her clinic, and educated patients on the value and efficacy of nocturnal dialysis. She became a spokesperson for the dialysis patient who could not voice his or her concerns.

Limited as she was in her physical abilities, she loved the WNC mountains and hiking…car hiking. Every weekend, and sometimes mid-week, she would set out with her husband in the morning, and “following their noses,” explore the mountain roads, far and wide, until late afternoon when they would turn and tack their way back home. The thousands of miles or hundreds of mountains driven into, around, over, or through to see the lovely mountainsides cannot be counted. A picnic by a waterfall, a vista looking over the Blue Ridge Parkway or a creek-side stop along any one of these countless waterways were her treasures, as was her family.

She was the glue that held us together…she never missed a family birthday or anniversary, she organized large scale family reunions, for 10-13 families, or mini-reunions as often as she could gather 3 or 4 siblings together. Every year there was Thanksgiving and Easter at the river!

To her grandchildren, she was “Inappropriate Grandma;” adored by each one, always encouraging them to be their best “true selves.”

We will celebrate her life on August 2, 2025 at noon at Groce United Methodist Church, 954 Tunnel Road, Asheville. A reception for family and friends will follow the services.

In lieu of flowers, Georgia has requested that donations be made to the Children’s Well-being League of Asheville, P.O. Box 15425, Asheville, NC 28813, or to a charity of your choice.

Anders-Rice Funeral Home and Cremation Center is honored to serve the Rohan family.