Frankie Marie Puckett

Frankie Marie Puckett, nee Lerner, died September 10, 2024, one day from her 84th birthday. She had 3 sons, Thomas Farrar Puckett, Jr., of Priest River, ID, who predeceased her March 6, 2018; Mark Damon Puckett (56) of Asheville, NC; and Benjamin Craig Puckett (53), also from Asheville. She had 5 grandchildren: Ben and Betsy’s kids: Ezekiel Benjamin and Noah George, and Farrar’s kids: Darby Grace, Justice Thomas and Dalton Gabriel. Born September 11, 1940, and raised around Campbell County, she lived mostly in Bedford and Moneta, VA. As a teenager she was a carhop at Jumbo Drive-In on 460 in Lynchburg. She was baptized at Beulah Baptist on Leesville Road. She played piano in church as well. In early 1964 to quit smoking she knitted the square of an afghan every time she had a craving. One of her many talents was crocheting. Frankie was a vibrant, funny person with her M.Ed. from Lynchburg College after receiving a B.S. in Nursing from MCV. For around 6 years she was a nurse then became a well-known reading teacher who was active in the Ruritans and president of the local Bedford garden club. She absolutely loved flowers and volunteered at the Smith Mountain Lake State Park in Huddleston, VA. In addition she was a stage manager for many large-scale plays/musicals at the Little Town Players and for local television. An avid lover of word puzzles, she was known as smart and quick, helping many children to read and passing on a love of education to her 3 sons. Every morning she would do acrostics, crosswords and word searches. Books of all kinds filled her houses. She continued to take 50 or so classes even after completing her master’s degree. She was even an adroit seamstress, quite adept with her sewing machine. With determination, she survived breast cancer. For the last 6 years of her life she resided in Asheville, NC, where her sons, daughter-in-law and grandsons were able to visit her regularly. When she had a stroke and fell in October 2018, she was rushed to Mission Hospital and saved. Afterward, she often led exercise and prayer groups at her retirement home. She loved to chew ice and do jigsaw puzzles. Perhaps she was most famous for her legendary care packages that she sent her kids and grandkids all through college and into adulthood, usually with a generous check for spending money. Her son Mark even wrote an essay about them that was published in the book of essays, Chicken Soup for the Soul: Thanks Mom, which was featured on “Good Morning America” with Joan Lunden. It was called, “The World’s Best Care Packages.” Frankie will be deeply missed. She had a fire of a personality and there was nobody like her. She was driven, articulate and intelligent. She encouraged her 3 sons in their dreams, instilling in them a love of nature, art, books, theater and education. Her legacy lives in them. A life celebration of this amazing human will take place in Bedford, VA, at a date to be determined, likely toward the end of 2024. Stay tuned on her son Mark’s Facebook page for announcements of the time and venue. A notice will also be published in the Bedford and Lynchburg papers once the date is set.

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