AGNES STANLEY NEWMAN
Agnes Stanley Newman, age 92, of Meadows of Dan, passed away Thursday, November 8, 2018, at Northern Hospital of Surry County, Mount Airy, N.C. She was born in Floyd County on February 8, 1926, to the late Dewey and Ada Dalton Stanley. In addition to her parents, Mrs. Newman was preceded in death by her husband, Cecil Rece Newman; a sister, Beatrice Dalton; a brother, Clonie Stanley; a son-in-law, Michael Boaz; and two brothers-in-law, Richard Dalton and Jimmy Williams. She was a faithful member of Conner’s View Primitive Baptist Church, and had retired from United Elastic.
She is survived by three daughters, Phyllis Botkins of Hot Springs, Maxine Boaz of Winston-Salem, N.C.; Karen Wood and husband, Richard of Meadows of Dan; a son-in-law, Thomas Botkins of Hot Springs; five grandsons, Shane Boaz (Angie), Jason Boaz (Amy), Brad Wood (Terri), Chad Wood (Meghan), Travis Botkins (Candice); twelve great-grandchildren; a brother, Clendon Stanley and wife, Doris of Winter Garden, Fla; a sister, Betty Williams of Hillsville; a sister-in-law, Edna Stanley of Mount Airy, N.C.; and several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services were held Sunday, November 11, 2018, at Conner’s View Primitive Baptist Church with Elder Lewis Vass and Elder Tim McGrady officiating. Burial was in the Stanley Family Cemetery. If desired, memorials may be made to the Stanley Family Cemetery Fund, c/o Karen Wood, 441 Busted Rock Road, Meadows of Dan, Va. 24120. Online condolences may be sent by visiting www.moodyfuneralservices.com.
HARRY THOMAS SAXTON, JR.
Harry Thomas Saxton, Jr., 86, of Orange, died on Veteran’s Day, November 11, 2018. A native of Madison County, Va., he was the son of the late Harry Thomas Saxton and Bernice Wimberly. He was also preceded in death by a son, Jon Gilbert Saxton and a brother, Robert Thomas Saxton.
He was born December 29, 1931. He attended Miss Louise Holladay’s School, Orange Elementary School, and was a 1949 graduate of Woodberry Forest School. He attended the University of Virginia before joining the United States Marines Corp. He was a veteran of the Korean War. He and his wife, Carlene Shuler, were married in 1953 at “Milford,” her parents’ home in Somerset, Va. After leaving the Marines, Harry managed the family farm for six years. He was then employed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as County Executive Director for the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service in Patrick County. He and his family lived there for three years. He was then promoted to District Director and moved to the Richmond area. Six years later he was again transferred and relocated to Unionville in Orange County. He retired from the U.S.D.A. in 1987. After his wife retired from teaching they moved into the town of Orange in 1994 and later became residents of Dogwood Village.
Survivors include his beloved wife of 65 years, Carlene Gilbert Shuler Saxton; son, Harry Thomas Saxton III of Lynchburg, Va.; son, Michael Shuler Saxton, and wife, May Crenshaw of Orange, Va; seven grandchildren: John, Erin, Rachel, Sarah, Michael, Thomas, and Maria Saxton; and one great grandchild, Virginia May Millett.
A celebration of life will be held at a future date. Interment will be private at Graham Cemetery.
Preddy Funeral Home of Orange is in charge of arrangements. Memorial gifts may be made to St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 119 Caroline St., P.O. Box 147, Orange, Va. 22960 or to the Orange Rescue Squad.
PAULENE RAKES WALTON
Paulene Rakes Walton, age 74, of Meadows of Dan, went home to be with her Lord on November 7, 2018. She was born in Patrick County on September 18, 1944, to the late James Turner Rakes and Louise Irene Gunter Rakes. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Luther Lee Walton. She attended Skyline Pentecostal Holiness Church. She will be remembered as a loving wife, mother, grandmother, sister, and friend.
She is survived by one daughter and son-in-law, Sandra Walton and Ricky Willard, of Meadows of Dan; one son and daughter-in-law, Jerry Lee and Pam Walton, of Laurel Fork; three grandsons, Lee Walton, Brian Culler, and Glenn Conner; eight great grandchildren; one sister, Thelma Rakes Scott, of Meadows of Dan; a niece and a nephew.
A funeral service was held on Saturday, November 10, 2018, at Moody Funeral Home Chapel in Stuart with Pastor Tommy Gosnell and Elder Alan Terry officiating. Burial was in the New Dan River Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to New Dan River Primitive Baptist Church Cemetery Fund, c/o James Shelor, 5183 Yellow Mountain Road, Lot 53, Roanoke, Va. 24014. Online condolences may be sent by visiting www.moodyfuneralservices.com.
The family of Mrs. Walton would like to extend their sincere gratitude to the staff of Mount Valley Hospice and Palliative Care and Laurel Meadows Heritage Hall Nursing Home for all the care and attention that was given to Paulene and their family.
FRANCES DUDLEY STRICKLAND
Frances Dudley Strickland, 96, of Fredericksburg, Va., and formerly of Greensboro, N.C. and Meadows of Dan, Va., died Monday Nov. 5, 2018 at Mary Washington Hospital after a brief illness. She was married for 66 years to Hal Hazelton Strickland Jr., who died in 2010, and was the mother of four children, 11 grandchildren and 5 great-grandchildren.
Known as Fran to her friends and Frannie to a growing flock of grandchildren and great grandchildren, she was a bundle of energy who loved parties, meeting new people, gardening down in the hollow next to the headwaters of the Smith River, traveling all over the world and working crossword puzzles while sitting in her green rocking chair on the deck of the family cabin, “Hemlock Hill,” overlooking the Rock Castle Gorge and the green fields of Woolwine.
Born in 1922 to Dr. William Brown Dudley and Marion Moir Dudley, she attended public schools in Martinsville, Va., and planned various careers such as race car driver and physician. It would not have surprised her children if she had become both at the same time, as there seemed to be little that Fran could not do once she put her mind to it. She got her driver’s license at age 14, was named Miss Martinsville Tobacco as a teenager and spent memorable times with her father and his friend, baseball legend Enos “Country” Slaughter, attending minor league baseball games in Southside Virginia and the upper Piedmont of North Carolina.
Fran graduated with a degree in chemistry in 1943 from Randolph Macon Woman’s College in Lynchburg, Va., where her older sister Sarah had earned her degree, and went to work for DuPont in Martinsville, doing qualitative analysis of chemicals destined for use in DuPont’s Martinsville nylon plant to make sure they were up to minimum standards. She met Hal Strickland, a Georgia Tech grad whose family was from Birmingham Ala., through a Martinsville friend and they wed in 1944. They endured for two years the frigid snows of Buffalo, N.Y. before returning to the South, where Hal began a long career with Burlington Industries.
In Greensboro Fran thrived, becoming quickly known as a terrific cook, a talented seamstress, an avid bridge player, and woe to anyone who wanted to take her on at croquet or Monopoly. She was an indefatigable volunteer with the Greensboro Junior League and treasurer of its thrift store, the Bargain Box. She was a volunteer and board member of the local chapter of the American Red Cross, and a donor of upwards of 40 gallons of O Negative blood over her lifetime. She served as president of the Greensboro Mental Health Association, was a circle leader and member of the Women of the Church at First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, and a weed-pulling, tomato-coaxing, relentless asparagus harvester and a kitchen canner who could put the folks at Carnation Cannery to shame with her output.
Fran and Hal were founders and charter members of the High Altitude Low Society Wining & Dining Academy in Meadows of Dan, a biweekly summer supper club comprising folks from the N.C. Piedmont who had homes in the Blue Ridge. She dazzled friends and family alike with her varieties of bread-and-butter pickles, dilly beans, dill pickles, pickled Jerusalem artichokes and chow-chow, and over the years gave thousands of jars of her homemade blueberry, blackberry and strawberry jam as Christmas presents to her friends and later for her grandchildren’s schoolteachers. If someone within her circle of friends died, she would take a casserole or a pie over to the family that afternoon.
When her grandchildren began appearing with some regularity, she launched a new tradition of taking each one to Disney World in Florida for their 9th or 10th birthday present. She was 66 when she took her first grandson to Disney World; she was 86 when she took her last granddaughter. The secret, she later divulged, was to get a golf cart and drive the younger generation around. On Saturday evenings in the hills, as her grandchildren would see and always remember, Fran and Hal would turn on the Lawrence Welk Show, and demonstrate the gentle art of waltzing to big band music.
Frannie was generous to all her children and her children’s children. When summer arrived, she would see that they were dispatched to Coastal Carolina’s sailing camps — prompting in-family jokes about the annual Fran Strickland Scholarships to Camp Sea Gull or Camp Seafarer. In 1980, she started what would become an annual tradition of taking her entire family to the beach each summer, a custom that survives after 38 years. Fran also went back to school, earning a master’s degree in counseling from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She had always been generous in handing out advice to both family and friends, and didn’t really need another college degree to dispense it.
And as much as she loved her family, she was crazy about dogs, especially of the terrier family. She and Hal had a long line of good little dogs, and perhaps their favorite was a small three-legged mutt named Rufus who had lost a leg in the same moment he lost a battle with the front wheel of a car. He was promptly dubbed the world’s only known example of a Tasmanian Terrier, and was as devoted to Fran and Hal as they were to Rufus. It seemed to take a lot out of Fran when she buried Rufus a few years ago.
She is survived by her children, Martha Strickland Betts and her spouse Jack Betts of Meadows of Dan, Hal Hazelton Strickland III of Austin, Tex., William Dudley Strickland and his spouse Tammy Burton Strickland of Spotsylvania, and the Rev. Dr. Carol Moir Strickland and her spouse Jack Palmer of Athens, Ga.
Her grandchildren include John Betts of Boise, Idaho; Mary Minor Betts of North Salt Lake, Utah; Hillary Heavyside of Santa Rosa, Calif.; Lucia Magee of Brattleboro, Vt.; Ian Strickland of Austin, Tex.; Colin Strickland of Austin, Tex.; Jason Strickland of Richmond; Will Strickland of Charlottesville; Holly McDade of Strasburg; Xan Palmer of Blacksburg; and Anna Palmer of Athens, Ga.
