Childress, James Perry
James Childress of Belspring, passed away at home Wednesday, September 7th, 2022, after a long battle with emphysema. He was 83. James was born April 3, 1939 in the tiny community of Swords Creek, in Russell County, Va. to Nora Stacy Childress, a talented seamstress and James Arvil Childress, a mechanic and bus driver.
As a boy he worked on the family farm and helped to take care of his many younger siblings. As a young man he worked in Chicago for a time before settling in Roanoke to operate Shenandoah Office Supply. While in Roanoke he met and married Darryll Duncan. They soon moved to Christiansburg where he ran Snapps Business Machines through the 1980’s. As typewriters and office equipment were replaced by computers, he worked various jobs using his tinkering and repair skills until retiring to a hilltop home overlooking the mountains in Belspring.
After retirement James could often be found in the garage turning an old lawnmower into a functional machine and kept a small garden. In his later years he enjoyed watching old Westerns and teasing the multitude of grandchildren, nieces and nephews that would come to visit giving them each a nickname and eating plenty of sweets.
Jim was preceded in death by two sisters, Nora Bostic and Gay Edgin; and one brother, Ramon Childress. He is survived by his wife Darryll; stepchildren, Greg Smith of Pulaski, Jennifer Smith of Pinehurst, N.C., and Lisa Tzavlas of Belspring; and granddaughter, Misty Sexton of Baltimore, Md. whom he raised as his own. Also surviving are his sister, Elizabeth Monk and brother-in-law Dick, sister, Janice Patrick and brother-in-law Eulis, brother, Clyde Childress and sister-in-law Rita, all of Tazewell, sister, Wilma Hall and brother-in-law Danny of Bristol, and sister Darlene Lewis and brother-in-law David of Salem; in addition to many other grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.
No formal services will be held.
The Childress family is in the care of Mullins Funeral Home & Crematory in Radford. www.mullinsfuneralhome.com