Children: Clara Reid, Ann, (twins) Robert & *Edwin

OBITUARY AND PHOTO CREDIT
Click Funeral Home

Clara Krider Knox Abercrombie, age 104, passed away Palm Sunday, April 5, 2020. She was a faithful member of West Hills Presbyterian Church. Born July 7, 1915, in Bear Poplar, NC, she was baptized April 23, 1916, at Back Creek Presbyterian Church, Mt. Ulla, NC. She actively participated as a member first at Back Creek Presbyterian Church and then subsequently at other churches. Reflecting the family's movement around the country during her life, these churches included Presbyterian Church, Due West, SC; Edgewood Post Chapel, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD; Decatur Presbyterian Church, Decatur, GA; First Presbyterian Church, Marshall, MI; Chesterbrook Presbyterian Church, Falls Church, VA; McLean Presbyterian Church, McLean, VA; Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church, Knoxville, TN; and West Hills Presbyterian Church, Knoxville, TN.

Clara Abercrombie was the middle child of seven – one brother and five sisters. She grew up in Bear Poplar, NC, a farming community in the Piedmont of North Carolina, where she developed her amazing work ethic that characterized her entire life. She went to the one-room school in her community until 15, when she attended a year of high school in Charlotte, NC, while staying with a family and helping with their children. In 1937, she graduated from Woman's College of the University of North Carolina (now University of North Carolina, Greensboro) with a B.A. degree in Home Economics. She continued her studies at George Peabody College, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, and was awarded a post-graduate certificate. She served as the dietitian at the North Carolina School for the Deaf, Morgantown, NC; at the Springdale Schools, Inc., Canton, NC; and at Erskine College, Due West, SC.

While at Erskine College, she met her husband Dr. W. Fulton Abercrombie, who was a professor and head of the Department of Biology. Upon his induction in the US Army, she returned to her alma mater as a faculty member and the assistant director of the dining halls at Women's College of the University of North Carolina.

The couple married April 24, 1943, at Back Creek Presbyterian Church with the groom in full Army dress uniform. They were married for 66 years until his death in 2009. During their years together, they raised four children living in Edgewood, MD (Edgewood Arsenal, Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD during World War II); in Decatur, GA (in the late 1940s through 1957); in Albion and Marshall, MI (in the late 1950s); and finally in Fall Church and McLean, VA (1960s through 1970s) before retiring in 1980 to Knoxville, TN. Her last years were spent under the excellent care of The Nursing Center at Little Creek, Knoxville, TN.
She had amazing gifts of creativity, hospitality, service, and perseverance. She loved all kinds of handcrafts, such as knitting, crocheting, quilting, smocking, upholstery, and ceramics. She was an accomplished seamstress, dress designer, ceramist, painter, and artist. While at college, she won first place in a suit design and construction contest. She made her own lace wedding dress, which was worn by sisters and friends, as well as her daughters. In the 1960s and 1970s, she worked at Three Cones Ceramics, Inc., Fairfax, VA, where she perfected her skills, taught ceramic classes, and sold her wares. She continued many of those activities after she and her husband retired to Knoxville. The extended family has many of her personalized works, gifts especially made for each relative. Her hands were never idle.

Clara was predeceased by her parents Scott Reid Knox and Pearle Stone (Whitman) Knox; one brother Scott Reid Knox, Jr; five sisters – Virginia Cowan Knox, Mary Miller (Knox) Hutchinson, Mildred Whitman Knox, Annie Lee (Knox) Mitchell, and Sara Ruth (Knox) Kearns; and son Edwin Fulton Abercrombie. She is survived by daughter and son-in-law Clara Reid Abercrombie Pratt and Michael Blane Pratt, daughter Ann Abercrombie Miller, and son and daughter-in-law Dr. Robert Knox Abercrombie and Amy Leech Abercrombie, nine grandchildren, and eight great-grandchildren.

The family will receive friends on Thursday, July 15, 2021, 3:00-4:00 p.m. followed by a memorial service at 4:00 p.m. at Click Funeral Home Farragut Chapel, 11915 Kingston Pike, Farragut, TN. In North Carolina, the family will receive friends on Saturday, July 17, 2021, 10:00 a.m. at Back Creek Presbyterian Church, Mt. Ulla, NC, with a funeral service at 10:30 a.m. and interment immediately thereafter at the adjacent church cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in memory of Clara Knox Abercrombie and her sisters to Back Creek Presbyterian Church, 2145 Back Creek Church Road, Mt. Ulla, NC 28125.