Tate, Nona Cleo Rice

Nona Cleo Rice Tate, 88, of Curve Road, Pearisburg, departed this life for her heavenly home Sunday evening, October 16, 2011, at Giles Community Hospital in Pearisburg. Born at Bluff City on November 4, 1922, she was a daughter of the late Henry Cecil and Nellie Gray Janney Rice and stepdaughter of the late Bertha Lawson Rice. A beloved wife, Mom, and MomMaw, she was a faithful Christian and member of Bethel Chapel Church in Clendennin. Cleo was also MomMaw to dozens of other children of several generations in Giles County that she cared for professionally and privately. She was preceded in death by her husband, James Arthur Tate; her son, Bradley Tate; her brothers, Dalford, Frank, Manuel, and Watha Rice; her sisters, Alice Stuart, Louise Ratcliffe, Thelma Austin; and half sisters, Wanda Hale, Eula Noble, and Lois Blankenship. She leaves to cherish her memory her sons and daughters-in-law, David and Ellen Tickle Tate, of Pearisburg, Stanley and Diane Burton Tate, of Rich Creek, and Kevin and Robin Rice Tate, of Roanoke; her daughters and sons-in-law, Helen Price (Paul), of Richmond, Margie and Mickey Cochran, of Wirtz, Althea and Darcy Burton, of Mechanicsville; her 12 grandchildren; her 27 great-grandchildren; her seven great-great- grandchildren; her brother, Mason W. Rice, of Dublin; her half brothers, Paul Rice, of Salem, H. C. Rice, of Salem, and Mark Rice, of Pembroke; her sister, Ethel Rice Burkholder, of Salem; her half sisters, Reba Smith, of Florida, Sharon Carbaugh, of Blacksburg. Funeral services will be conducted Wednesday, at 1 p.m. in Bethel Chapel Church in Clendennin with Pastor Eddie Kendall officiating. Burial will follow in Birchlawn Burial Park in Pearisburg. The family will receive friends at the funeral home Tuesday evening from 6 until 8 p.m. Online condolences may be sent by visiting kendallfuneralhome.com.