Aunt Nanny

crazy Aunt Nanny, she always told everybody she loved them. didn't matter if she knew you or not she always said "i love you darlin/ son". and as soon as i would pick up the phone and call her or see her her first words were "well hey baby!" in the most high pitched, excited voice you could imagine. Aunt Nanny kept me many many times when i was little. and she used to have to separate me & matthew because we would fight in the backseat of the car. she kept a flyswatter laying on the seat and more than one time she's turned around and popped one of us. we used to pick on her about the way she said certain words. my name was "kristchul", my brother was "mattchew", she always called my grandma & grandpa Ledbetter "Hoss & Becky" (Hoyle & Betty), my momma was "Pammy" and more times than not i was too :) we laughed at how she could NEVER say aluminum foil, it was more like alumin-min-em-em-foil and pie was "pwie" and picnic table (my favorite) was "pickinickin table". oh the laughs and stuff she gave us. and not just for her funny pronunciations of words but her favorite word, shit. she taught that one to one or more kids haha but not on purpose. she used to tell me her mother was Dutch, even wore the little wooden shoes and didn't speak any bit of English so that's why she said words so funny. her mother was from Holland. neat huh?

she loved my boys to pieces too let me tell you! she was one of the very few in the family that never had anything bad to say about me having 2 boys. many people used to make comments about it but she was one that always told me, "kristchul you don't have to have no girl, you have 2 of the prettiest boys anyone could ever ask for and they're so well behaved. you couldn't ask for no better youngins" that always made me feel so good to know she always had something so positive to say about my boys. she bragged and bragged about how good they were, in her words "good as gold because i had learned them." she always told me that. she never said anything bad about me telling them no or popping their butts, she said the needed to learn and that i had taught them how to act and she was so proud of what i had done with them. do you know how accomplished as a mother that makes me feel? to know someone saw past the gender of my children FOR ONCE and complimented on how well behaved they were. man she loved my boys. always got such a hoot out of talking to them on the phone or hearing them run through the house laughing & giggling at each other. or me telling her a story about something crazy one of them said or had done through the week. she loved hearing them laugh and now every time i hear jaxon laugh it reminds me of her. i'm so glad i was able to share them with her and share her with them. even in her last few days she was still cracking a smile and calling me her little shitass. 

i was hesitant to take branson to her funeral or even let him see her in the casket. i thought maybe he was too young to understand the concept of everything. but that child understands completely. the day she passed matt told him that she had gone to heaven and that was the last thing that was said. wednesday morning, the day after she passed i left to go to the dentist he asked me if i was going to see Aunt Nanny since the last several weeks if i left without them i was going to see her. it broke my heart. then thursday morning, randomly out of nowhere and no mention of her branson looked at me and said "Aunt Nanny's not here anymore, she in heaven. she up there" and he pointed up. i told him that was right. when it came time for the family's private viewing i didn't allow him in to see her. i wasn't sure he would understand that her body was still her but her spirit wasn't so she wouldn't talk or anything. so friday morning on the way to the church i explained to him that her body was here but her heart was in heaven. he looked up out the window and said "she up there." when we got to the church while waiting for the receiving of friends branson & i sat at the back of the church and watched as they wheeled her casket in. he peeked over the chairs and said "that's Aunt Nanny". when they opened her casket at the front of the church he peeked back over the chairs and said "there she is, that's her body." while there was no one down there i asked him if he wanted to go see her, with the biggest tears welled up in his eyes, almost a scared, serious face and the most innocent looking face he's ever had said, "no mommy i don't. you go see her but she's not sick anymore" at that point i realized her understood the seriousness of the matter. so i didn't make him go. but when it came time to walk to the front i carried him down and he looked in the casket from the first pew and saw her. he saw his & jaxon's pictures in her casket and said "there's me & jaxon with Aunt Nanny. she feels better." he didn't stay for the funeral, we let him go back to Lana & Roger's with her neighbor but it just amazes me at how a 4 year old little mind can understand she's in heaven but her body is here when i've never explained death or heaven to him because i didn't think he would understand it. as a mother that gives me an overwhelming since of joy and peace that he fully comprehends it. 

June 17, 2011 

‘Ginny’ Burris

Thursday, June 16, 2011 — Virginia Ramelle “Ginny” Whitley Burris, 84, of Locust, passed away Tuesday, June 14, 2011, in the Tucker Hospice House of Kannapolis.

Mrs. Burris was born April 13, 1927, in Stanly County.

She was preceded in death by her husband, Calvin C. Burris; father, Osby Liston Whitley; mother, Gertrude Pressley Whitley; brothers, Harold and Liston Whitley; and sister, Lucille Whitley Starnes.

She worked for many years at Locust Restaurant.

The family will receive friends from 10-11 a.m., Friday, June 17, at Carolina Presbyterian Church of Locust. The funeral service will begin at 11. Rev. Dr. Kinney Wallace will officiate, assisted by James Almond.  Interment will follow in the church cemetery.

At other times, the family will meet at the home of her daughter, Lana, at 116 Kings Drive, Locust.

She is survived by her daughter, Lana Barbee, and husband, Roger, of Locust.

Memorials may be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Cabarrus County, 5003 Hospice Lane, Kannapolis, NC 28081.

Hartsell Funeral Home of Midland is assisting the Burris family.

Online condolences may be made at www.hartsellfh.com.