Nina Blair Bowling

1927 - 2022

Nina Blair Bowling

June 09, 1927 - May 10, 2022

Nina Kate Blair Bowling, age 94, passed away on May 10, 2022, at English Meadows Senior Living in Blacksburg, where she had resided the past 10 months.

Formerly, she was a long-time resident of Wytheville and Rural Retreat. Nina was born on June 9, 1927, the youngest child of the late William Newell Blair and Ella Waldron Blair in Raleigh County, W.Va. In 1930, she moved with her family to the Walton Furnace area of Wythe County where she started her education in a local, two-room school. Nina graduated from Jackson Memorial High School as Class Valedictorian in 1944. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in 1948 from Radford College which at the time was the Women's Division of Virginia Polytechnic Institute. After graduation, Nina joined the faculty at Rural Retreat High School where she primarily taught Home Economics and Earth Science at different intervals for a total of 20 years. On June 21, 1949, she married Chester C. Bowling after they met while boarding at the Rural Retreat Hotel. Nina was a 62-year member of the Rural Retreat United Methodist Church where among other activities she served on the Administrative Board, taught Sunday School and served as Financial Secretary. After retiring from teaching in 1980, she volunteered for several years at the former Twice Nice Thrift Store operated by the Presbyterian Children's Home of the Highlands in Wytheville. In addition to her parents, Nina was preceded in death by her husband of 47 years (1996) and her sisters, Maxine Blair Wade (1998) and Betty Jean Blair Bowers (2021).

Survivors include three children and spouses, Chester Ray Bowling and his wife, Darlene, of Richlands, Joyce Anne Bowling Sink and her husband, Charles, of Blacksburg, and Jeffrey Blair Bowling of Ellicott City, Md. and a granddaughter, Rebekah Blair Bowling and her husband, Andrew Chen of West Hollywood, Calif. Also surviving are sisters-in-law, Victoria Bowling Kirby of Martinsville, and Carol Forbes Bowling of Dublin; a cousin, Margaret Blair Grimes of Max Meadows, and several nieces and nephews. The family would like to thank Jeanette Wood and her husband Richard for being loving companions, caregivers and chauffeurs to Nina for six years in Wytheville. Other devoted caregivers in Wytheville included Wanda Hall, Barbara Kuehl, Cathy Lovelace and Barbara Parks. In addition, the family thanks the staff at English Meadows for their dedicated service including in particular Ashley Bland, Brinnon Eaves, Larry Gibson and Molly Plaugher. Finally, the family thanks Jacqui McDuffie and her colleagues at Medi Home Health and Hospice for Nina's peaceful passing.

Funeral services will be held on Saturday, May 21, 2022, at 3 p.m. in the Barnett Funeral Home Chapel, 325 Church Street in Wytheville with the Reverends Buford Hankins and Phyllis Hankins officiating. The family received friends one hour before the service. Interment was private at West End Cemetery in Wytheville.

In lieu of flowers, those who wish may make contributions in Nina's memory to the Rural Retreat United Methodist Church, P.O. Box 307, Rural Retreat, VA 24368, the Rural Retreat Depot Foundation, P.O. Box 843, Rural Retreat, VA 24368 or a charity of choice. Barnett Funeral Home of Wytheville is handling arrangements. Online condolences can be sent to the family at www.highlandfuneralservice.com.