Elinor Glynn Hall

Elinor Glynn Holland Hall, 88, died August 23, 2019, in Laurel Fork, VA, at a nursing facility where she made many friends, completed puzzle books, carried a change purse heavy enough from bingo winnings to be used as a weapon, and, much to the surprise of her family, once won a singing contest.

Elinor was born in Roanoke, VA, on June 6, 1931, and grew up and lived in Southeast, until her soldier-boy-and-banjo-picking husband carried her away to the country, where they lived a quiet, peaceful life in a cabin on Wards Gap Road in Carroll County, VA.

As a teenager, she and her best friend, Doris Doran, worked at Kay’s Ice Cream on South Jefferson Street.  She married Clayton Hall on June 14, 1947, and the couple lived in Elinor’s family home on Gladstone Avenue until the birth of their daughter, Sharon Renee.  The Halls moved to Wards Gap Road in 1950, and the city girl flourished in the country like a tree planted by the water.  She was a wonderful gardener who tended to sprawling flowerbeds and rosebushes.  She loved birds, always keeping her feeders full and adoring the hummingbirds.  She and Clayton were married 55 years, until Clayton’s death in 2003.  Elinor moved to Heritage Hall in Laurel Fork, VA, in 2014.

In addition to being a beloved mother and grandmother, Elinor was a popular lady in the Cana and Ararat vicinity, where she taught several women along Wards Gap how to drive automobiles.  She was a long-time member of Mount Bethel and Crooked Oak Moravian churches.  Elinor was an unwaveringly positive, sunny person, a woman who was silly, funny, and fond of practical jokes.  She never shied away from hard work, whether it was toiling in a textile mill or working in her family’s apple-packing house in the fall.  She was adored by her rowdy grandsons, who loved going to Grandma’s house, and not just because it was always filled with cakes, cookies, pizza, and other treats.

Elinor was preceded in death by her husband, Clayton Hall; her parents, Thelma Poindexter Holland and Henry O. Holland Sr.; and two brothers, Marvin Holland and Henry O. Holland Jr.

She is survived by her daughter, Renee Manning and husband, Jason, of Mount Airy, NC; her sister, Reba Powell and husband, Earl Powell, of Roanoke, VA; three grandsons and their wives, Ralph Berrier Jr. and Ruth Babylon of Roanoke, VA, Rick and Kerry Berrier of Cana, VA, and Billy and Lisa Berrier of Cana, VA; one step-grandson, Nick Robertson of Greensboro, NC; six great-granddaughters and one step-great-granddaughter; sisters-in-law, Ada Holland of Hurt and Betty Holland of Chesterfield; and former son-in-law Ralph Berrier, Sr.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Heritage Hall at Laurel Meadows Resident Aid Fund, 16600 Danville Pike, Laurel Fork, VA  24352.  The family thanks all of Elinor’s “girlfriends” at Heritage Hall for their care and friendship these past five years.  The funeral will be held Wednesday, August 28, 2019, at noon at Oakey’s Roanoke Chapel, with interment following at Mountain View Memorial Park in Franklin County.  The family will receive friends Tuesday from 6:00 until 8:00 PM at Moody Funeral Services in Mount Airy, NC, and at 11:00 AM Wednesday at Oakey’s Roanoke Chapel.