Naomi Atwood-McAbee
June 17, 1934 – January 31, 2021
Naomi was born June 17th, 1934 the 3rd of 11 children born in a cabin in the North Carolina Appalachians. She was born to a hard-working family descended from Scottish-Irish immigrants with a history of tending apple orchards and working for the Civilian Conservation Corps. Her young life consisted of waving down the local train for rides into town, milking the family’s cow, eating chocolate biscuits for a treat and enjoying Oranges at Christmas. Some of her favorite memories were of running around the mountains and tormenting her mother with her brother Johnny Atwood (RIP 2020). She left the Mountains after high school and traveled to Charlotte, NC where she worked retail and eventually went on a blind date where she met the man she called “Tommy”.
Thomas Watson McAbee was a World War II vet who would eventually become her husband. They were married in 1961 and were together until his death in 1997. They traveled and lived in New York City, New Orleans and Ann Arbor, Michigan. Eventually settling down in Huntsville to raise two children, Tracy Pheneger and Mitzi Graeff.
Naomi worked her entire life to ensure the lives of her children were fulfilled. Making sure they would be educated in the Arts including Music and Dance. Working expressly to pay for a clarinet, a trumpet, years of dance classes and college spending money. She defended their rights to attend college and live life on their own terms. She was funny, clever and kind and we will always remember the ways in which she could always make us laugh. She held the knowledge of the colloquial language of the Appalachian’s and she taught her Alabama-born daughters to speak the dialect with words that included endemic names for birds, plants and household items. She also held the stories of miracle medicinal plant cures and tales of ghosts that would inhabit her childhood mountain homes. She would give her last penny to help and was always there for her family and friends.
Naomi traveled often to visit family in Colorado, North Carolina and her perennial favorite place, Disney World. She was a brutal, unforgiving SCRABBLE player and would laugh as she laid down a multi-letter, triple score word filled with a Q and Z. Even during pandemic times, she was restless to keep moving and would find excuses to go to the store (with a mask, of course) to help others. She survived a year of the pandemic only to ascend to her ancestors quietly by way of a tired heart on January 31st, 2021.
We are so grateful to have had her as a mother and a grandmother to our children. She is survived by four siblings; daughters, Mitzi Graeff and Tracy Pheneger (Jed); grandchildren, Andrew Graeff, Cory Graeff, Luke Pheneger, Alexander Pheneger; grand-daughter in-law, Vanessa Graeff; and one forthcoming great-grandchild.
We will keep our friends and family safe and have a remembrance for Naomi later in the year. She will be cremated and her ashes spread in the Appalachian mountains, per her request. May her life be a blessing upon the Earth and may all who knew her rest in knowledge that her long life was filled with love and laughter.
In lieu of flowers, feel free to donate to the Blue Ridge Parkway Foundation (brpfoundation.org) in her memory and/or reach out and help the someone you see in need. Doing a good deed is a beautiful way to honor her memory and generosity.
