AUST, Trula Mary Craig

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Trula Mary Craig Aust, 96, passed away Friday, September 29, 2006, at the Highland Ridge Rehab Center in Dublin.

On May 30, 1910, Trula was born in Pulaski County to Robert Edward Craig and Sarah Bentley Craig, both now deceased. In her lifetime Trula witnessed women’s suffrage, World War I, the great influenza epidemic, the Great Depression, World War II, the entire span of the Cold War, and all the changes in the little town of Pulaski for almost a hundred years.

Trula was baptized on March 25, 1956, as a member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church. As a young woman, she worked at Paul Knitting Mill. Later she was a Den Mother for the Boy Scouts, a classroom assistant for all five of her children, and a prizewinning cook.

She was a wife, a mother, and a natural storyteller who moved through this life with innate grace and poise. While the need to work prevented her from pursuing her own education, when asked if she had a degree, she proudly pointed to her children and said ” I have five .”

Her hard work allowed every one of her children to finish school. Her pride in education was passed down to her children and grandchildren, several of whom received advanced degrees of their own. Like her father before her Trula could make anything grow. Her roses, daffodils, lilacs, and summer flowers of every type were a wonder to behold.

Babies adored her on sight, and little children flocked to her as they did to the gardens she tended. Her family Bible held a lifetime of personal remembrances, and she was proud of her family, her heritage, and her home.

Trula was a true lady, and her legacy rises quietly over the town’s generations like the mountains that watch over it.

She is survived by her daughters, Mildred “Duckie” Aust Keller, Ruth Aust Harrell, and Jo Ann Aust Asbury with her husband, Roger Allen Asbury, Sr., all of Pulaski; and her son, Charles Allen Aust, Jr. of Wytheville. Trula Aust was “Mammaw” to all her grandchildren, Donna Marie Jackson of Greensboro, North Carolina, Charlie Byrd Duncan, IIl and his wife, Vann Duncan of Newbern, David Allen Duncan of Floyd, April Asbury of Pulaski and Roger Allen Asbury, II and his wife, Laura McManus Asbury of Salem.

Also surviving are her great-grandchildren Shane M. Jackson of Greensboro, Shaylyn M. Jackson of Radford, Elizabeth Byrd Duncan of Newbern and Jesse Howard Allen Asbury and Daniel Franklin Aust Asbury, who was born September 29th. Her great-great-granddaughter, Alexia Dawn Crigger of Pulaski, is Trula’s bridge to the fifth generation.

She is also survived by two half sisters and a number of nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her husband, Charles Allen Aust, Sr. and her daughter, Lucy Jane Aust Duncan.

When she cared for her husband, he told her, ” There will be stars in your crown when you get to heaven.” Tonight her stars are shining, and they will shine over us for all our lives.

Services will be held Tuesday, October 3, 2006 at 11. a.m. in Aldersgate United Methodist Church. Interment will follow at Oakwood Cemetery. Arrangements are by Stevens Funeral Home. The family will receive friends from 10 a.m. at the church until the service time on Tuesday.

In lieu of flowers, Trula suggested donations be made to Aldersgate United Methodist Church, 1946 Medallion Drive, Pulaski, Virginia 24301.

In her own words, Trula says, ” No flowers please. I had mine when I could see them.”