Burkholder, Ethel Tickle
Ethel Tickle Burkholder, 87, of Salem, went to be with the Lord on Tuesday, November 5, 2013. With great fondness, many elders will remember this family oriented lady and mother of five. In Old English her name means noble and proud.
Ethel was a farmer’s daughter, raised on the New River. She was of Giles County, Virginia-flesh and bone. She was a loving, Christian woman who lived for Jesus Christ, and who was steeped in God’s Word. She was also a proud, serious woman, focused upon and concerned with her family. Yet, she could also be humorous with a dry, sharp, outrageous wit that could shake a person all over with laughter. Ethel was a wife, a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. She gratefully took advantage of every educational opportunity afforded her, and she was proud of her nursing career. Her patients always wanted to take her home with them.
She was preceded in death by the husband of her youth and the father of her children, Noah Miller Tickle Sr.; by her infant daughter, Nellie Ann Tickle; by the husband of her senior years, Preston Burkholder; by her parents, Henry C. Rice and Nellie Janney Rice; by a wonderful stepmother, Bertha Lawson Rice; and by seven brothers and seven sisters.
Surviving her are one daughter, Drema, Drema’s husband, Larry Renfroe, Drema’s son, Duane Joseph Church, his five children, Tyler, Landon, Lexie, Connor, and Caroline; Drema’s son, Joey Church and his wife, Jennie, their children, Morgan and Avalyn; Drema’s son, Aaron and his wife, Alica, and their children, Abbie, Anderson, and Aiden. Also surviving her are Ethel’s three sons, Noah Miller Tickle Jr., his wife, Blanche Meryleen, their son, Shawn, his wife Dana, and their daughter, Sylvia, Blanche, and Noah’s daughter, Melissa Tickle-Bond; Ethel’s son Jimmie, his daughter, Amy, her husband, Greg Johnston, and their three children, Ahnna, Caleb, Aleah, Jimmie’s son Andy, his wife Tara, and their sons, Seth and Tyler; Ethel’s son, Johnnie, his wife Debroah, their son John, their daughter, Stacey, her husband, Scott Sheppard, their daughter, Jessie, and their four sons, Seth, Exavier, Trevor, and Wallace. Ethel’s sister Reba, her husband, Danny Smith, her sister, Sharon Leon Carbaugh, and Ethel’s brother, Mason Rice, her brother, Paul Rice and his wife, Linda, her brother Henry Rice and his wife, Lynn, and her brother, Mark Rice, also survive her
. The entire family still mourns for Marcie Buckles Tickle, the recently deceased wife of John, son of Johnnie, and for Dianah, the recently deceased wife of Jimmie.
The family will receive friends on Thursday, November 7, 2013, from 6 until 8 p.m. at John M. Oakey & Son funeral home in Salem. Funeral services will be held on Friday, November 8, 2013, at 3 p.m. in the funeral home chapel with Pastor Eddie Kendall officiating. Burial will follow in Sherwood Memorial Park.