Peggy Sue Braswell

        Peggy Sue Braswell, our beloved “Nonnie”, passed away on May 25, 2024, which ended up being only a couple of months after she celebrated her 90^th birthday with a host of friends and family.  She felt so special that day as everyone gathered to show her how much they loved her.  She was born on March 11, 1934, in Jamestown, TN, during the height of the Great Depression.  As the youngest of 8 children of Carson and Ora Beaty, she earned her grit and resiliency living through those difficult years, where she learned the values of hard work, the importance of family, and the joy of a well told story.  She would often spin a yarn about the shenanigans of the Beaty children, whether it be hiding the water dipper spoon from Poodle Wright when he would visit,  visiting Eunice Victory when the head of her bed had collapsed (but not the foot of the bed) leaving her stuck with her feet high in the air, or being so excited about her brand new doll for her 5^th (or so) birthday that she threw it in the air, thereby getting it stuck on the roof of the house where nobody could get it down.  All of these stories centered around how much her family meant to her.  She was the youngest and eventually outlived them all.

        Sue lived through WW2 in wartime America, where her siblings took an active role on the front lines.  Shortly after the war, Sue met the love of her life, our Poppaw, Fredie Braswell in Nashville in 1953.  Despite him fibbing about winning a Golden Glove boxing jacket, they fell in love and eventually eloped to get married in 1954 to Rossville, Georgia she 20 and he was 18.  After all, she was the “prettiest woman in this here town”, at least as Poppaw saw it.  They moved into their home in West Nashville in 1963, where they lived together until “death did they part” when Poppaw passed in 2021.  They did most everything together: traveling, golfing (until Nonnie took lessons and started to beat him regularly, then started asking others to join them), attending Westwood Baptist church as faithful members for over 40 years, and going to almost every single sporting event that any of their grandkids would play – even across the country.

        Their home was Nonnie’s domain, where one of her greatest joys was cooking for her family and friends.  Whether it be her signature thin chicken dumplings, the creamiest mashed potatoes, baked cornbread dressing (the level of sage always tested by Poppaw himself), or even simply a bowl of pinto beans, each dish was prepared by hand and with love in her heart.  Anyone, and I mean anyone, who came to eat was treated like family.  You could taste the love with each bite. Maybe the best part of life happened around her kitchen table, both the good times and the bad. It was where tears would be shared after the funeral of one of her siblings.  It was where we could catch up with the goings on of day-to-day life.  It was where her sisters would gather after dinner reminiscing about their times together, and cackling laughter would stretch late into the evening.  Their children and grandchildren would be drawn into these stories, each coming alive as the exploits of their mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles in younger days were passed down to the next generation.  If you understand what to do with “cat yarn”, what it means to “give it jessies”, ever seen something “gone chicken”, or “taken the studs”, then there’s a good chance you spent some time there.  That table saw the need for more chairs over the years as the family grew from one daughter, Pamela Jane, to two grandchildren and their spouses, Blake (wife Jaclyn Beaghan)  and Kera (wife  Zoey Phelps) Bergeron, to four beautiful great-grandchildren, Lillian Ruth, Samuel Beaty, Charmayne Lee, and Rex Bentley. 

        At the end of the day, Sue served the Lord with gladness, welcomed all to her table, and loved her family fiercely.  We rejoice in the fact that we got to share in her love for so many years, and we hope in the promise that through Christ, she is now reunited with Him, the greatest lover of her souls and her Fredie. 

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Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, August 24^th at the Pavilion at Harpeth Hills Memory Gardens.

Visitation 11:00 am – 11:30 am

Celebration of Life 11:30 am – 12:30 pm  (share your favorite story/memory)

Lunch/Visitation 12:30 – 2:30

Internment for both Sue and Fred 2:30 pm