Julia Nadine Rankin

Funeral services for Julia Nadine Boggs Rankin, age 83 of Piedmont, are Saturday, June 1st, 2019 at 2:00 p.m. at Thompson Funeral Home in Piedmont, Alabama with Dr. Harold R. Epperson officiating. Visitation hours are 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Friday, May 31. Burial is at Littlejohn Cemetery in the Knightens' Crossroads community. Flowers are acceptable as well as donations to Piedmont Education Trust. Ms. Rankin passed 6:32 p.m., Thursday, May 23, 2019, at Regional Medical Center, Anniston, Alabama. Survivors include two sons Kerry John (Maria Blanca) and Randy Jackson Rankin; two grandchildren, Maria Nadine, and Amy Miranda. Nadine is proceeded in death by her husband of 61 years, Randall Davis Rankin (1938-February 3, 2019); her parents, Grady Jackson (1897-1966) and Amy (Lindley) Boggs (1901-1975); as well as all of siblings, Frances Grace (Boggs) Dickert (1920-2000), James Clarence Boggs (1923-2005), Myrtle Lorene Ledbetter (1924-2001), Eunice (Boggs) Cooley (1926-2011), Edna Geneva (Boggs) Twilley (1928-2011), Charles Leonard Boggs (1933-1998), and Gerald Gay Boggs (1937-1989). Pallbearers include Ronnie Ledbetter, David Ledbetter, Michael Twilley, Richard Jay McCain, Jared Chase McCain, Jayden Trey McCain, Jim Kelly, and Benjamin Barlament. Honorary Pallbearers include Tim Masters,Jeffery Kisor, and Barry Hinkle. Julia Nadine Boggs Rankin was born March 14, 1936, in an old sharecropper's home across from her grandparent's, Amos (1856-1937) and James Frances (Mize) Lindley (1865-1949): An area once known as Halpin's Crossroads midway between Wedowee and Hollis Crossroad's, Alabama. Nadine was the 6th of 8 children. The first name, "Judy" Nadine, placed on her original birth certificate was done in error. Nadine loved her family and frequently spoke of her family lineage. She was particularly proud of how the original area, Halpin, was named after her great, great grandfather, James "Jim" Halpin, an Irish immigrant bricklayer who married Matilda Rogers, the daughter of John and Sara Rogers (New Echota). Nadine was born into a large, extended family large enough to constitute a community. Through her family, she developed a deep love for family, close connections to church families. At age 16, Nadine devoted herself to spiritual living during a Congregational Methodist revival, was baptized in a river in Randolph County Alabama, became actively involved in churches throughout the Wedowee area, but adopted Union Hill as her home church. Years later, after returning to Alabama from California, she returned to Union Hill to visit family and grave sites of family members every 3rd Sunday of May. She was usually mature and forward-thinking, even in her youth. Classmates say Nadine was extraordinarily beautiful. She attended class reunions faithfully. Nadine graduated from Randolph County High School May 21, 1954, and went to Westminister College, Tehucana, Texas from 1954 to 1957. She received 92.5 credit hours and studied briefly at Asbury College, Wilmore, Kentucky. Although those schools were non-accredited at the time, Nadine attended them to advance her faith and spiritual knowledge. While attending both schools, she maintained interest in bible and theology. She returned to Alabama and enrolled in at Jacksonville State University where she met Randall Davis Rankin on a blind date set up by Ralph Spoon. The two married March 17, 1958, in Anniston, Alabama. Melvin Rankin signed consent because Randall was not old enough under Alabama age requirements. The young married couple moved to Torrance, California, about the same time as other siblings in the California migration, and made 1604 ½ West 224th Street their home. The following year they gave birth to Kerry John Rankin. The couple later moved to 3525 Meadowview Drive, Riverside California and gave birth to a second son, Randall (Randy) Jackson Rankin. Nadine's father, Grady Jackson Boggs, continued to correspond through letters and cards. The two had a deep relationship. The last act her father did on earth was to place a Christmas card to his daughter and grandson. Afterward, he reposed against his truck and passed from a heart attack. The experience had a profound influence on Nadine. She kept the letters, cards and a photo of Grady's grave, covered with flowers, in a small cedar chest. In her final months on earth, she brought the cedar chest closer to the couch where she slept and enjoyed watching TV and studying scripture. Nadine was highly educated, but never boastful, and had an insatiable appetite for learning. In California, she continued her education at El Como Junior College, Long Beach State College, La Sierra College, and Loma Linda University in Riverside, California. Nadine received a Bachelor of Science in Education in Home economics, earned her teaching degree August 27, 1968, and began her teaching career teaching Home Economics at Corona Senior High School. She continued practicing her faith and joined First Church of the Nazarene in Norco, California, April 24, 1966. Upon returning to Alabama, in the early 1970s, for about a decade, she remained active in the East Gadsden Nazarene and then the newly formed one in Piedmont, Alabama, before joining Piedmont First Baptist Church where she remained actively involved as a youth Sunday School superintendent and teacher as well as an adult Sunday School teacher. Nadine was exceptionally creative. She was a wedding planner creating elaborate decorations based on selected themes and couple's personalities. She loved to provide her home as a place for her large, close-knit family during Thanksgiving and Christmas; memorable children’s parties, church, and Sunday school get-togethers. Whatever the occasion, she would turn her entire home into a work of art. In Christmas time, the house was covered wall-to-wall, red to green, with snowmen, Santa’s and everything in between. During Halloween, the house was orange to brown with pumpkins and fall leaves. She turned her Easter cakes into rabbits that looked like rabbits. She could make cakes look like authentic tree logs. Her dresses for beauty pageants would help make one of her nieces an annual champion. But what many looked forward to the most at her parties was what she would share with her guests. Nadine loved to read, gather insights from spiritual works as well as scripture. She spent hours preparing her thoughts, and her delivery touched the listener profoundly. Over the years, she cherished the words, Delight thyself also in the Lord: and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass (Psalm 37:4-5). Close friends say each time she discussed this passage, Nadine shed new insight and meaning from the verse. She also joined Trinity Missionary Baptist Church, Piedmont and became active while holding ties to her church family at First Baptist. Not many people would be members of two churches simultaneously and be passionately involved in both. But as Charlotte Epperson would say, “there aren’t many people like Nadine”. Nadine continued her education at Jacksonville State University and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Dietetic Science. In the early 1970s, she taught fifth grade at Southside Elementary School, Piedmont, Alabama. The following year, she was employed as a dietician at Regional Medical Center, Anniston, Alabama for about a decade. She worked briefly as a librarian in Piedmont, Alabama with her Aunt Mae Brown before becoming the director of dietetics at the Baptist Medical, Center. Nadine then taught Home Economics at Piedmont High School between 1984-1986 and imparted cooking, sewing, and home management skills to her students. A few of her students developed lasting relationships. In 1986, she moved to Lake Worth, Texas to be with her husband who was Regional Vice President of State Life Reserve, Fort Worth, Texas. She immediately took an elementary education position at White Settlement and loved all the evangelical opportunities offered in Fort Worth. The following year, she moved to Wichita, Kansas where her husband was Regional Vice President of Alliance Life Insurance Company. Upon returning to Alabama, she retired but remained active. She became actively involved in assisting Russian ministries helping orphans as well as helping Pastor Nikolai Epeshin, and Yuri Zakhorov raise money for a church in Nemchinova, outside of Moscow, Russia. When Nikolai first met woman, she noticed her strength and determination. She said of Nadine, “If you ever want to know what a Russian woman is like, a REAL Russian woman, … Nadine! She is like a Russian woman! Strong and courageous”. The large church is still active with a thriving international outreach ministry. She also spent countless hours and days caring selflessly for many of her aging siblings. She loved her sisters and brothers deeply. Nadine never stopped doing things in her home and never stopped working. She took a position at Sears, Oxford, Alabama and worked for a good decade. In recent years Nadine enjoyed a weekend position as a server at Target in Woodstock and Roswell, Georgia and Walmart in Calhoun, Alabama. Only in the last three months of her life did she finally say, “I've decided, I'm not working anymore”. Throughout her life, Nadine developed many close relationships. Among those lifelong connections includes high school classmates. In particular, she maintained a close friendship with Mildred Taylor. The two spoke almost every day about life and politics. Gary and Imogene Wolfe shared lifetime memories and connections that Randall and Nadine cherished; visiting each other’s homes week after week for years. Goldie Young befriended Nadine in Los Angles, California and stayed close for sixty years. Sydney Franklin met Nadine at Piedmont First Baptist in Ruth Camp’s Sunday school class in the late 1970s. The two remained inseparables for 40 years. Nadine got to know Carol and Tim Masters and Chuck and Susan Sellars in the mid-1980s through State Life Reserve. Among Nadine's closest bonds include her sister-in-law, Theresa Kisor. Together, the two organized and hosted family and social events and took care of family often until the final moments of life. Evelyn McCain was like a sister to Nadine since they became neighbors in the early 1980s. They held family Thanksgiving and Christmas events together and chose to place their families' burial plots adjacent in Littlejohn at Randall’s suggestion. Sharon was also like a sister to Nadine and lifelong friend. The two met while working at Sears, and they shared the same, deep spiritual values. Nadine's niece, Debbie Minton, was like a daughter to her. The bond between the two remained upbroken as Nadine’s final moments were in her niece’s arms. However, the one’s Nadine poured her soul and energy into were her two sons, Kerry John Rankin and Randy Jackson Rankin, her daughter-in-law, Maria Blanca Rankin, and her two granddaughters Maria Nadine and Amy Miranda Rankin. The love she had for them was boundless. Nadine and Randall turned the house they built into a home for so many leaving cherished memories that will echo from wall to wall throughout the ages. She is loved. She is missed.

Julia Nadine Rankin

March 13, 1946 - May 23, 2019