Nedra Frazier Huffman, 89, slipped peacefully away from this earth on February 7, 2019. She was born in Giles County, Virginia, on April 26, 1929, the fifth of nine children born to William McKinley Frazier, Sr. and Janie Cunningham Frazier. She was married for 52 years to Grover Watson (Doug) Huffman until his death in 1998. They lived in Narrows when first married, then in Roanoke and New Castle before settling down into the old home place in Narrows in 1995.
During their years together, Nedra and Doug opened their home to family and friends to share meals and a place to stay. No one was ever turned away; not even when two of her sisters and their families, 12 in all, came to stay with Nedra and Doug and their five children. Doug pitched their six-person tent in the backyard for the older children to camp out. Between double beds, bunk beds, twin beds, baby beds and playpens, there was a place for them all. They also shared their home for months with a widowed cousin and her three-year-old, and invited brothers, nieces and nephews who were working in Roanoke to stay with them too.
Nedra was a dedicated daughter, sister, wife, mother and grandmother who had a great sense of humor. She loved rocking babies, having tea parties with her grandchildren and playing cards with just about anyone. She played Rook, Rummy and Uno with all comers. Known to all as kind, patient, and loving, she showed no mercy in a card game. She liked to win.
She loved music of all kinds. Some of her favorite artists were George Straight, Vince Gill, Cher, the Bee Gees and the Sons of the Pioneers. She loved watching Turner Classic Movies that featured stars Shirley Temple, Robert Mitchem, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire and John Wayne. Nedra love the smell of fresh laundry and baby shampoo, and she kept a clean kitchen.
Nedra was a wonderful cook and everyone who shared a meal with her had a favorite dish. Family favorites include tomato dumplings, potato and macaroni salads, cole-slaw, fried squirrel and squirrel gravy, country style steak and gravy, pickled beets, bread and butter pickles, stuffed peppers with creole sauce and boiled custard to pour on coconut cake. Nedra’s favorite meal was pinto beans and cornbread.
Nedra did not seek fame or glory outside of her home and family because she enjoyed her roles as wife, mother, grandmother, sister and friend. She loved her family and friends, and they loved her back. She will be sorely missed. She accepted Christ as her Savior when she was baptized, but she did not attend church regularly. She lived her life by the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you, and she kept the Ten Commandments.
Left to cherish her memory are her five children and their spouses: Michael A. and Bertha (Betsy) Huffman, Beverley H. and Julian A. (Butch) Ewers, Richard G., Sr. and Sheila Huffman, Charles W.(Chuck) Huffman and Jeffrey K. and Katie Huffman. Nedra has 12 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren. Three brothers and two sisters predeceased her.
Surviving family includes brother James W. (Jim) and wife Dorothy Frazier of Iowa Park, Texas, and sisters Rathma F. Johnston of Salem, Virginia, and Janice F. Cockerham of Mims, Florida, and 26 nieces and nephews. She has many cousins in her extended family who kept in touch. One cousin, Eunice Beasley, helped her family take care of her during this past year. Her family celebrated her life on Saturday, February 16, at 3:00 p.m. at Kendall Funeral Home in Pembroke, Virginia. Family and friends were received from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday in the Kendall Funeral Home Chapel. Her ashes were interred in the Frazier family plot in Fairview Cemetery in Narrows, Virginia, on Tuesday, February 19, at 2:00 p.m.
