Sue and Leslie Nance

Sue Nance, age 94 and Leslie Leon Nance, age 92 both of Memphis, Tennessee. Sue passed away on Tuesday, March 16, 2021, and Leslie on Saturday, March 6, 2021. Sue was born October 31, 1926, to the late David (went by nickname Bunk) and Elmira Tomlinson Pritchett. Leslie was born May 7, 1928, to the late Leon Layfatte and Ruby Hancock Nance.

Sue's nicknames were Rabbit, Mildred, Gran & Granny Grunt. She was born as Ursula and didn't have a middle name but went by Sue. Her sister Annie Vera named her. Sue couldn't stand to be called Ursula because people couldn't pronounce it right. The kids at school nicknamed her rabbit. Sue & her daughter Debbie would call each other on the phone and make up a name and ask to speak to them. It became a game with very funny replies. So, Mildred (Sue) & Josie (Debbie) seemed to stick.

Sue was born in Dyersburg, Tennessee. Sue attended school in a 2-room schoolhouse in Dyersburg, TN. When the teacher was out, she helped teach the younger kids. Her nephew Feeeman Lee Pritchett was her youngest student in the class. Later Sue and her family moved to Mayfield, KY where she met Les. One day this cute guy who turned out to be Les delivered ice to her home When she started high school the good-looking guy that delivered ice to her house was now in her class. Les and Sue dated until she moved to Memphis to live with her sister Annie Vera Pritchett Hannah and attended Tech High School. At Tech High Sue's achievements were K.O.T. Club1946-47, Glee Club 1944-46, Minstrel 46, candidate for Popularity Queen 1946, Fashion show 1945-46 and a drum majorette 1944. Her yearbook showed her ambition: To be a success and find happiness. The yearbook also showed her philosophy: Live today, dream of tomorrow, learn from the past. After school she did shorthand and worked in the office at Levy department store. She really missed Les and they wrote to each other all the time. The only other time Sue worked was during Christmas in 1970 for Dreyfus Jewlers. She was a stay-at-home Mom and always loved to keep the grandkids and was still keeping them until her 80's or longer.

Leslie's nicknames were Les, Daddy Do & Papa. His son-in-law Bill Harlow called him Daddydo because he could do anything and everything and we had big shoes to fill. Les was born Leon Leslie Nance and didn't like it and changed it to Leslie Leon Nance. He was born in Mayfield, KY and attended Mayfield High School. When he was younger, he played the violin. He worked at an icehouse in Mayfield, KY as a teen and delivered ice. He moved to Chicago, Illinois to live with his brother Robert Lewis and go to school. Les missed Sue and moved to Memphis, TN to go to school at William R Moore Tech to be an electrician and be near Sue. Les got a job at a grocery store when he moved to Memphis. He wasn't in Memphis long before he married Sue. They went to Hernando, MS to get married which was the place everyone went to get married. Brother Whitten married them in his house and her mom, Elmira Tomlinson Pritchett, sister Annie Vera Pritchett Hannah (Sue called her Sister), niece Francis Hannah and her future husband Leon Rice went with them to get married. Sue and Les lived in an apartment on Tutwiler after they were married January 1, 1948. They were ready to start a family and wanted lots of kids. Sue told Les's parents they planned on having 6 kids and they did. Les started selling insurance and worked with National Burial, National Trust Life, Preferred Risk, Paul Revere, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Allstate Insurance where he worked the longest. He was still working for Allstate when he retired. Dad had a mini-stroke that affected his swallowing and the last few years of his life he was on a feeding tube. He took it real well but we know he missed eating and felt sorry for him.

In November 1948 Leslie Dwain Nance was born. A few years later Sue had a miscarriage. A few years later came, Debra Renee Nance and they purchased their 1st house on Semmes and lived there for several years until they outgrew that house. They bought a house on Fizer Cove and then Pamela Joy Nance, Randall Keith Nance, Timothy Scott Nance and Susan Michelle Nance were all born at this house. When Susan was about three years old, they needed more space and moved to Derron Ave in the Fox Meadows area. They decided several years later to get a bigger house for their large family on Pebble Creek LN where they spent the rest of their life.

They got into several business. They sold air-condition filter, purchased 2 school buses to take people to the cotton fields to pick cotton. Les drove one of the buses from Mayfield, KY to Memphis and Mom followed him and us kids had a ball riding home in the bus. They hired someone to drive the buses and take the cotton pickers to the cotton fields. Sue wrote a cute song "Those Cotton-Picking Buses". They owned Dixie Stockyard Cafe for a few years and had great food. That was when the white's had 1 side to eat, and the black's had the other side to eat, and a wall divided them and there was a cash register for each side. Certain days of the week people would come to the stockyards to buy meat. Then they got into a car rental business, but they didn't last long. Sue sold Avon which was cosmetics and toiletries and Cameo which was a lingerie company. Sue belonged to the Singing Adeline's, and they sang around town for a short time. Then some of our family made and sold art & crafts.

Les & Sue loved to play Rook a card game, dominoes and many other games inside and outside. When it was just Sue & Les, they loved to play games just the two of them. Outside the guys loves to pitch washers, and we all played croquet and badminton. The whole family loved to play games. Les loved to do woodwork and crafts with Sue, daughter Debbie, her husband Ray Ellison, their 2 sons Stan & Craig and daughter Pam. The guys made the crafts and the girls painted them. They sold their crafts at a lot of local craft fairs for several years and had lots of fun. Les worked on his cars when they had problems and loved doing projects around the house. There wasn't much he wouldn't try to do. Les enjoyed doing yard work and Sue loved working in the flower beds and they had a beautiful well-manicured yard. Sue wrote a book of Poems "God's Unending Love" for her family and friends. She was given a plaque for semi-finalist in a poem contest for her poem "The Clock of Time". She liked to oil paint, do flower arrangements and write songs. She invented a kids Alphabet game and sent it to Mattel to see if they would sale it. They declined but strange how several years later they sold a game almost identical to her game. Sue took piano for seven years and was very entertaining. The family would gather around to watch her play. Our favorite was hearing her play the Boogie Woogie . She played several songs that was popular when she was young and gospel music.

Sue & Les loved spending time with their big family. Sue always taught her kids to get along and love each other. She said friends will come and go but you will always have family. Be kind to each other. She said she wanted to make sure we stayed closed and would get us together every Sunday for lunch for many years and for the holidays. When the family got so big, and grandkids had things to do we didn't get together every Sunday, but we still got together a lot and on all holidays. Sue said when they are gone, she wants the kids to carry on the tradition and stay close. The family looks forward to getting together and enjoying each other's company and we don't argue and yell like a lot of families. Many people over the years have commented on how great and how wonderful we get along and wish they were a part of our family. It's very rare these days families just don't get along and don't care. We have a few practical jokers in the family which makes it interesting.

When the kids all lived at home, we had big dinners. Sue wanted to make sure she fixed something each kid would eat so we had big meals with lots of choices. Sue was a GREAT cook and enjoyed cooking for her large family and entertaining guest. You could always count on Sue to have a meal prepared for her guests. She got the great cooking from her mom & Sister Annie Vera Prichett Hannah. Sue would let us invite friends and in-laws to eat with us and she would always say the more the merrier. Several years we had so much food when we all got together, we used the pool table to put the food on! We laughed and called ourselves the Beverly Hillbillies. We now have around 50 in our immediate family when we get together and sometimes others are still invited. We have food everywhere, all over the kitchen & the kitchen island, kitchen desk, buffet table in the dining room and the bar in the den. We have lots of choices and can always find something good to eat.

Les and Sue attended Christian Heritage Church in Fox Meadows. The church moved to Collierville and changed names to Compassion Church. They attended there until it was hard for them to get out and go to church. Dad was a deacon at Christian Heritage for many years and was a former member of the Gideons for years. Sue was a Sunday School teacher for the 2-year-old class. She taught a long time and watched many of the kids grow up. She loved teaching them, singing songs, doing crafts and decorating the corkboard about their lessons. She wanted to keep their attention and even had puppets. For a short time, she worked in the church nursey during service. Sue spent many occasions setting up and decorating the church for parties and she always got lots of complements. She loved to have parties and cook meals for the church at their house. Sue and Les were very devoted Christians and shared their faith with their family and other people. Their prayer was that we all get saved and live together again in Heaven.

Several years ago, Pastor Derrick Gardner of Compassion Church honored them for being the longest married couple in the church. and had them renew their vows in front of everyone. The Pastor then had the whole church renew their vows too. The neat thing Pastor Gardner had printed up lots of certificates for the congregation and had Sue & Les's signatures on all the certificates as witness. Their Grandson Craig & wife Amber Ellison attended and renewed their wedding vows and got a certificate signed by them. They were so proud that Gran & Papa had signed their certificate as a witness. Pastor Gardner would call and keep in contact with Sue & Les and come to the house to visit them every month. Sue & Les enjoyed and looked forward to his calls and visits. Pastor Gardner said got a big kick out of Sue and they had lots of laughs.

Sue and Les were fun to be around, full of love for everyone and each other and they will be missed a lot! I wish we could have seen them when they got to Heaven and saw God face to face and saw family members that had gone before them. What a happy reunion! I bet one of the 1st things Les did was get something to eat after being on a feeding tube for several years. We have lots of happy memories of our precious Mom & Dad!

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Leslie Leon Nance age 92 and Sue Nance age 94, both of Memphis, Tennessee. Leslie passed away on Saturday, March 6, 2021and Sue on Tuesday, March 16, 2021. They were married for 73 years. Sue was born October 31,1926 to the late David and Elmira Tomlinson Pritchett. Leslie was born May 7,1928 to the late Leon Layfatte and Ruby Hancock Nance. They were members of Compassion Church where Leslie has served as a deacon and Sue taught Sunday School for many years. Leslie was a former member of the Gideons. Leslie enjoyed woodworking, and spending time with family. Sue enjoyed her large family and entertaining guests. You could always count on Sue to have a meal prepared for her guests. Sue and Leslie enjoyed working in their yard. They are survived by their children; Dwain Nance (Libba), Debbie Ellison, Pam Harlow, Randy Nance (Lisa), Tim Nance (Dana), Susan Brady (Tom), 18 grandkids, Angie Nance Cannell (Len), Bryan Nance (Gizem), Justin Nance (Kathleen), Stan Ellison, Craig Ellison (Amber), Dean Harlow (Brittnay), Kevin Harlow (Anna), Keith Nance, Amy Nance Dunlap (Clint), Emily Nance, Jonathan Nance, Chris Nance, Josh Nance, Hunter Nance, Nicole Hale Gray (Christian), Alyssa Brady, Denton Brady, Collin Brady and 15 Great grand kids. Lauren Cannell, Ashley Cannell, Maya Nance, Atlas Nance, Gavin Ellison, Jordan Kamerzink, Peyton Harlow, Knox Harlow, Chloe Harlow, Hunter Harlow, Kelsey Dunlap, Brooklyn Dunlap, Emma Hendon, Jaxon Nance and Brayden Nance. They will miss the birth of great-granddaughter Evie Nance next month.

Leslie is preceded in death by his Dad Leon Layfatte Nance, Mom Ruby Hancock Nance, brother, Robert Lewis Nance. Sue is preceded in death by her Dad David Pritchett, Mom Elvira Tomlinson Pritchett, siblings, Jennie Sue Pritchett, Beatrice Pritchett, Annie Vera Hannah and Luke Lee Pritchett.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.MemphisFuneralGermantownParkway.com for the Nance family.