Obituary

Juanita Annis Foley Puckett, age 95, was called home to be with the Lord on March 18, 2025.  Juanita “Nita” was born March 29, 1929, a daughter of the late George Tiny Foley and Lora Annis Dodd Foley of Shady Spring, West Virginia.

Juanita was a 1947 graduate of Woodrow Wilson High School in Beckley, West Virginia, and attended Beckley College.  She taught two years in Fayette County, West Virginia; one year in a one-room schoolhouse in Highland Mountain and one year in Kingston.  Through the years since, she was a substitute teacher for Chesterfield County, Virginia, and Evangel Christian School, as well as a homemaker.  In 1953 she married her beloved Melvin James Puckett of Kilsyth, West Virginia.  At the time, he was serving in the United States Air Force, stationed at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.  They shared 71 years together.

Juanita was a member of the Salem Primitive Baptist Church.  She loved her Lord and her Church family.

She leaves behind to cherish her memory her beloved family, her husband Melvin James Puckett; one son, James Kim Puckett, married to Teresa Springer Puckett; two daughters, Amy Puckett Howard and Lora Puckett Braswell, married to Lonel “Lonnie” Braswell; one sister, Elva Foley McMillan, married to Daniel “Buddy” McMillan; six grandchildren, Christopher Stewart, married to Sharon Gill Stewart; Daniel Stewart, married to Gabrielle Bunting Stewart; Erin Puckett, married to Wei-Han Lai; Katherine Puckett, married to Haofei Wei; Colin Puckett; Lydia Braswell Reuille, married to Zach Reuille; and six great-grandchildren, Samuel, Luke, Emma, and Hazel Stewart, Willow Wei, and Otis Lai, as well as several nieces and nephews.

Preceding Juanita are beloved family members her parents, George and Lora Dodd Foley; a sister, Emogene Foley Manning and her husband Edward A. Manning; a brother, Ralph Eddie Foley and his wife DeEtte Feagan Foley and their son Jerry Allen Foley; and a son-in-law, Amy Howard’s husband Norman Howard.

A graveside memorial service will be held at Blue Ridge Memorial Gardens, in Beckley, West Virginia, on Thursday, March 27, at 11:00 a.m.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Juanita’s name to AT Home Care and Hospice, the Mattaponi Indian Tribe and Reservation, and Salem Primitive Baptist Church in Chesterfield, Virginia.