Nannie Hart Ashby was born January 3rd, 1913 in Lincoln County around the Gimlet community. She was the oldest child of Clarence and Elma Hart Ashby. Her brother was Charles Truman Ashby and her sister was Fannie Reba Ashby Patton. Nannie Hart grew up learning all about farm life. She and her family worked hard. They also had a lot of fun with their grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Nannie Hart was particularly close to Ruth Logan, a favorite cousin of hers. When Nannie Hart’s mother and father passed on she moved to Lynchburg to live beside her brother and his family. Nannie Hart did factory work until she retired. Her favorite hobbies over the years were studying her bible, sewing for her nieces and herself, and she had a wonderful love for reading. Nannie Hart had a great sense of fashion, every Sunday morning she would look like she had just been on the cover of a fashion magazine. She totally loved her nieces and nephews who she thought of as her own children. Nannie Hart was a faithful member of the Booneville Church of Christ. She was known at the church as a true bible scholar. Nannie Hart lived alone until she was 97 years old. This was made possible by her loving and dedicated sister-in-law Bettye Ashby. Nannie Hart was fiercely independent. She loved working in her vegetable garden and tending to her many flowers. In April of 2010 Nannie Hart had a stroke. She lived the remainder of her days in the Lynchburg Nursing Home. She worked hard with her therapy and overcame many of the effects of the stroke. She attended church services at the nursing home each Sunday. She was surrounded by her beloved family right before her passing. She told each one good-bye in a unique way of how they had made her life special. Before her death she was reaching her arms out several times, as if she was ready to pass from the loved ones here on this earth to the safety of Jesus’s arms and her new home in heaven. She will be greatly missed by her family and friends. She made her family’s life so much better by the life she lived. Her family plans to let the light of Nannie Hart’s life live on in them.
Survivors include sister-in-law Bettye Ashby of Lynchburg, TN, nieces Donna Ashby (Lance) Askins of Tullahoma, TN, Suzanne Ashby (Phillip) Vandiver of Murfreesboro, TN, Sandra Ashby (David) Bauer of Goodlettsville, TN, nephews Gary (Billie) Patton of Decatur, AL, Charles (Sylvia) Patton of Lake Waccamaw, NC, Steve (Pam) Patton of Tamp, FL, great nieces and nephews: Christopher (Rebekah) Askins, Chase Askins, Chance (Lauren) Askins, Holly Vandiver, Heather Vandiver (Daniel) Neely, Nathan Bauer, Erin Bauer, Craig Patton, Ken (Heather) Patton, Shelley Hinson, Emily Patton (Chris) Milan and Laura (Matt) Kelly.
Funeral services will be conducted Tuesday at 10a.m. at Booneville Church of Christ with Gary Patton, Steve Patton and Chance Askins officiating. Burial will follow in Booneville Cemetery with Higgins Funeral Home in charge. Visitation with the family will be Monday evening 4-7:30 p.m. at Higgins Funeral Home. Memorial may be made to Camp Joy, c/o Paulette Jennings, Lynchburg Bank, 71 S Mechanic Street, Lynchburg, TN 37352.