Nannie Hollon

Nannie Hollon passed away early Wednesday morning, September 21, 2022, at her local residence, the Primrose Retirement Community of Kansas City, Missouri. She passed away a month and a day before her 96th birthday and was preceded in death by Dr. Beech Fields Hollon, her husband of 58 years, and by her son, Dr. Mitchell Fields Hollon; her parents Henderson Lee Brumback (1888-1964) and Elizabeth Lainhart Brumback (1890-1986); and all her siblings: Hallie Blanche Combs (1912-2000); Edna Frances Manley (1914-1993); Earl Brumback (1916-2009); Marshall Brumback (1918-1994); Leckie Gaines (1921-1997); Jewel Smith (1923-2008); Tyra Brumback (1929-2020) and John Brumback (1931-1931).

She is survived by her son Elvin Lee Hollon and wife Marilyn (Ruth Ann Hollon, deceased) of Liberty, Missouri; daughter-in-law Patricia Hollon Byrd and husband Phil (Dr. Mitchell Fields Hollon, deceased) of Charleston, South Carolina; grandchildren Dr. Hannah Fields Hollon of Richmond, Virginia, Benjamin Lee Hollon and wife Katie of Lenexa, Kansas; Melissa Ann Hollon Burnett and husband Chris of Kansas City, Missouri; and great-grandchildren Hadley Ann Hollon, Grayson Lee Hollon and Cade Alan Hollon.

Nannie was loyal to her faith in God, to her family and to her friends and was not shy about sharing her faith when the opportunity presented itself. She lived a fruitful and amazing life and was a keen observer of the changes in the world taking place from her birth to now. She was born in Gray Hawk, a small-town farming community in Central Kentucky in 1926 and lived there almost continuously for 24 years before marrying. She met Beech Hollon in the Lees Junior College library and we think schemed her way into an introduction.

She had many stories of life as a child in rural Appalachia - hoeing corn, canning or curing just about anything, cornbread with everything, all water being drawn from the well, and being one of the younger children in a large family. She really did walk several miles one way to school a place she loved, sometimes in the snow, and there was a hill involved. She made the eight miles one way walk to the nearest town many times and “listened to President Roosevelt on the radio” during the depression, and later hearing about World War II and when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

While much a homebody, she lived in North Carolina, south Louisiana and middle Tennessee following her husband’s career changes in his role as a United States Department of Agriculture Animal Science researcher. In each place, she was the wife, mother, homemaker and baker.

She and Beech were very active in their church in each place they lived. The last stop, in Cornersville Tennessee, lasted 43 years, and their time there included several years of retired life. She was an avid “plant person,” and even her studio apartment in Primrose had multiple potted plants filling the window. After the death of her husband in Tennessee, her church community tended to her very well right up to the day she moved to Missouri. While she never drove a car (except the one time that ended in an unplanned off-road stop), they made sure she lacked for nothing in the eight years she lived alone.

She also created the role of “Matriarch of the nieces” and made a point of keeping in steady contact with several of her sisters’ daughters as their moms passed away. She enjoyed this role, sharing stories with them about their moms and offering advice for free when asked and sometimes when not.

Her move to Missouri was due to a health issue which she eventually got under control. She accepted (slowly but surely) this was the place she should live. She made an effort to know many of the other Primrose residents and frequently invited them to the Sunday service. She also tried to help them adjust to a new and different life now at Primrose. She worked hard to make friends among the staff and would be truly humbled by the kind words many of them said about her when they learned of her passing.

While our family is very sad that she is no longer with us, there is no doubt that she was ready for an eternal life with no cane, no walker, no pills and perhaps cornbread with every meal. She will be overjoyed to see Jesus, her husband, her family and her friends in heaven. We will miss her cheery “hey” when answering the phone and her eagerness to hear what we had to say, and most of all will miss her as a friend.

Her local family will celebrate her here in a memorial service on Saturday, October 22, which would have marked her 96 th birthday, at The Grove Church in Gladstone, Missouri (7027 N Locust Street 64118).

There will be a visitation at 10:30 followed by a service. Her extended family will have a graveside service at a future date in the Brumback family cemetery in Kentucky.

Memorials, if desired, can be made to the Dr. Beech and Nan Hollon Fund at the First Baptist Church of Cornersville. The address is 2966 Pulaski Highway Cornersville, TN 37047, Attention Reverend Arthur Payne. These monies will be used to support the teaching ministry of the Church that Nannie and her husband Beech cared so much about and participated in for many years.

Her local family will celebrate her here in a memorial service on Saturday, October 22, which would have marked her 96 th birthday, at The Grove Church in Gladstone, Missouri (7027 N Locust Street 64118).

There will be a visitation at 10:30 followed by a service. Her extended family will have a graveside service at a future date in the Brumback family cemetery in Kentucky.

Memorials, if desired, can be made to the Dr. Beech and Nan Hollon Fund at the First Baptist Church of Cornersville. The address is 2966 Pulaski Highway Cornersville, TN 37047, Attention Reverend Arthur Payne. These monies will be used to support the teaching ministry of the Church that Nannie and her husband Beech cared so much about and participated in for many years.