Clarice Cross Bagwell
Clarice Cross Bagwell (December 15, 1914 – September 26, 2001) was an American educator and activist. She was the first woman in Georgia to serve as forewoman of a grand jury, as well as one of the first special education teachers in the state of Georgia and the first in DeKalb County. She studied at Georgia State University, the University of Georgia, and West Georgia College. Bagwell also was president of the Georgia Parent Teacher Association and sat on the board of directors of the national PTA. Working for the PTA's Committee on International Relations, she visited Canada, Japan, Switzerland, and the USSR on goodwill and outreach missions. Bagwell was born on December 15, 1914, in Pickens County, Georgia. She married chemist and teacher Leland Horace Bagwell, sometime after 1930. They had two children, David Leland Bagwell and Thomas Nathan Bagwell. Leland was the founder and CEO of American Proteins, founded in 1949 as the North Georgia Rendering Company; after his death in 1972 she became the company's chairman of the board and co-owner and ran it alongside their son, Tommy Bagwell. American Proteins would become the largest poultry renderer in the country before being purchased by Tyson Foods in