Dan Pierce Pulley

PULLEY, Dan Pierce of Henrico was always a farm boy at heart. He was born January 11, 1923, to Douglas Holden Pulley and Gladys Oakley Herrin Pulley at their sprawling "Cedar Lawn" farm in Southampton County outside of Ivor. He enjoyed sports, especially baseball, while growing up and followed the fortunes of the teams of Georgia Tech, where he graduated in chemical engineering. He worked most of his life and traveled the globe for Virginia-Carolina Chemical Co., acquired by Mobil, where he retired in 1987 as a managing engineer. While he worked in Barberton, Ohio, a company secretary, who had to call him every day, started teasing him about his Southern accent. He not only found out who she was, he married her in 1948. He and Goldie Celia Hodovan Pulley, his "Gold Stuff," enjoyed 60 years together until he died June 28, 2009, at Henrico Doctors' Hospital. He also worked for five years at The Holladay House, his family's furniture business on West Broad Street. Dad loved to travel and wanted to see everything. He would have driven 600 miles a day on vacation, if Mama had let him. He also loved golf, his vegetable garden, fried chicken, mashed potatoes and coconut cream pie. Blood ties were important to him. He kept up with the families of his brothers, Marvin, Robert, Charles and Douglas, who left before him. He did "dad things," like coaching in the Tuckahoe Little League, serving as an assistant Scout master and doing things with his grandchildren. Survivors include his wife, Goldie; a son, Douglas Holden Pulley II of Henrico, who remembers that Dad taught him not to give up; a daughter, Jean Oakley Pulley of Henrico, who said Dad taught her to be a perfectionist by doing things perfectly when he showed her how to do something; a daughter-in-law, Ellen Robertson Pulley; two grandsons, Aaron Wesley Pulley and Andrei Nicholas Pulley; and his caregiver and best friend, Juanita "Nita" Henderson. A memorial service will be held Saturday, July 11, at 9:30 a.m. at Trinity Lutheran Church, 2315 Parham Road in Henrico. A graveside service will follow in Westhampton Memorial Park in Henrico. The family suggests that memorial gifts be made to the Tuckahoe Volunteer Rescue Squad, the Fraternal Order of Police and the American Heart Association. Doyne-Burger-Davis Funeral Home in Farmville is handling arrangements. 434-392-3210.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.