Sara Grier

Sara Lou N. Grier NORFOLK - Sara Lou Nicholson Grier passed away on June 2, 2010 at the age of 89. Mrs. Grier was born in Wheelwright, Ky., on April 8, 1921. The second child and first daughter of Ruby May and Thomas P. Nicholson, she attended Cranberry High School where she met Hardy Cannon Grier Sr. After entering Lee McCray College in North Carolina, she and Hardy married. Mr. Grier was shortly called into the U.S. Navy where he served in North Africa. Sara Grier continued on the home front with three children and worked at the National Fireworks Inc., Bristol, Va., facility, as a quality control inspector in the shell production lines and quality assurance. Upon Mr. Grier's return from the war, the family moved to East Ocean View, Norfolk, where Mrs. Grier continued to rear her six children. Sara Grier was actively involved in several civic groups to include East Ocean View Civic League as secretary, as deacon at East Ocean View Presbyterian Church and president of East Ocean View Garden Club. Her flower arrangements were routinely awarded the top prize of Blue Ribbon at area shows. Sara Grier later followed her passion for cake decorating and reached the recognition of professional master cake decorator. Her works were admired and praised from the Tidewater area to Washington, D.C., and New York. She participated in educational films on the subject of cake decorating for the Norfolk Public School system. Sara was inducted into the Wilton Hall of Fame for Cake Decorating. She was predeceased by her husband, Hardy Cannon Grier Sr. and by a son, Melvin Hardy Grier. She is survived by five children; left to cherish her memory are Kenneth Edward and Vicky Grier of Ladysmith, Va., Marion Sue Littman of Norfolk, Hardy Cannon and Margot Grier Jr. of Silver Spring, Md., James Michael and Angela Grier of Lansdale, Pa., and Robert Lee and Kimberly Grier of Norfolk; 15 grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren. A memorial service will be held June 12 at 6 p.m. at the Light of Life Christian Center, 808 Principal Court, Chesapeake, (757) 548-0789. Private services will be held at a later date this summer in Vilas, N.C., where she will be buried with her husband and generations of her ancestors.