Frankie Louise Conduff

Frankie was born in Jefferson City on March 10, 1940, and was a 1958 Graduate of Greeneville High School.

Frankie was a faithful, loving, and caring daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother who dedicated her life to Christ and to helping her family and others. From helping to raise her younger siblings while she grew up in Bristol, Elizabethton, and Greeneville, Tennessee, to taking care of her mother later in life, she lived with a giving soul.

Family life as a military spouse with dependents opened a whole new world to foreign customs and experiences living in the Philippines, Italy, and Okinawa. Learning the basics of Tagalog, Italian, and Japanese languages opened the door to new and exciting challenges and experiences in foreign countries. She fondly remembered the countryside vistas, the foreign people, fresh Italian bread, focaccia, those cold cut Sunday afternoon lunches, and helping to make this a totally unique, fun, and engaging lifestyle for her children, all of which were a common part of that stage of her life.

Frankie ended her working career self-employed after various occupations from bookkeeping to customer service, but it was always her family and her church that were the focus of her life. Frankie had many different talents that she loved to share with everyone. She loved playing piano and the organ at Pine Grove United Methodist Church and East Side Baptist Church where she was a member, and played for Sunday services, weddings, funerals, and special events for as long as we can remember. We have fond memories as small children of sitting quietly on the piano bench beside her while she played piano during choir practice. Well, admittedly not always sitting quietly on the bench, “You have to keep an eye on that Rodney,” she would say, which she still vocalized until her last days. Our mother was a seamstress, scout leader, cheerleader, camp counselor, sideline coach, room mother, and every kind of volunteer we or anyone else needed her to be. She was a masterful floral arranger, cake decorator, cookie maker, and confectioner. She knitted and crocheted, and it was always a special time during the holidays when she showed up with her home-made cookies, candies, goodies, and ornaments that were filled with all the love she had stuffed inside of them.

Frankie, or “Frank” as her grandchildren lovingly called her, enjoyed an enormous amount of time with them when they were young with many extended sleepovers, birthday parties, movies, orchestra recitals, school events, baseball games or other sport events, and the cookouts that always followed them. They became a major focus during that time of her life, and she adored them always. Always a sports fan, she loved the Atlanta Braves and Tennessee Volunteers. It was common for her to watch an entire game with Granny on the other end of the telephone when they could not be together. Though simple and humble, her life was full of the things she shared with others, things that filled their lives with the love and the care she had for them. Frankie also had an affinity for a good cup of coffee, and was always ready to make a second cup for you.

Frankie was preceded in death by her father and mother Francis Vernon Purgason and Dorothy Aris (Nelson) Purgason.

Left to cherish her loving memories are her children Rodney Conduff (Margaret), Johnson City, TN, Cynthia Conduff, Denver Colorado, grandchildren Clayton Conduff (Melissa), Johnson City, TN, Dr. Corey Conduff (Cassy), Chattanooga, TN, great grandchildren Alec Conduff and Flynn Conduff, brother and sister Robert (Bob) Purgason (Marsha) Mosheim, TN, and Lois Bradley (Ronnie).

Family and friends are invited to a graveside service to be held at GreeneLawn Memory Gardens on Saturday, June 1, 2024, at 11:00 AM. Services will be officiated by Pastor David Fox, East Side Baptist Church. Kiser-Rose Hill is in charge of arrangements.

The family would like to acknowledge and extend our immeasurable gratitude for the loving and kind care provided by the staff of Laughlin Healthcare Center and Amedisys Hospice Care in Greeneville, TN.

Online condolences may be sent to the Conduff family at www.kiserrosehillfuneralhome.com