Harriet Joan Abrams Obituary
Harriet Joan Abrams, (81) of Panama City, FL, formally of Hampton, VA and Winchester, VA passed away peacefully with her family by her side on October 27, 2011 at Bay Center Nursing Home.
She was born December 18, 1929 in Edgefield, SC, the daughter of Leslie Middleton Edmunds and Rose Hammond Edmunds. She grew up on the Edmunds Plantation in Edgefield that was inherited by her father. During the Great Depression, her parents sold the plantation and she moved with the family to Richmond, VA, where she worked as a secretary at Richmond Memorial Hospital. Eventually she and her parents settled in Hampton, VA. The plantation land is now part of the National Park Service, preserved to protect the Savannah River watershed. She was distantly related to Arthur Middleton, signer of the Declaration of Independence for South Carolina. She spent her life dedicated to her children as a homemaker. She married Luchen Joseph Abrams in 1959, in Hampton, Virginia.
She is survived by a brother, Leslie M. Edmunds of Mechanicsville, VA, A sister-in-law, Barbara Edmunds of Chesterfield, VA; two sons, Joseph M. Abrams and Charles W. Abrams and wife Leslie, of Southport, FL; two daughters, Mary A. Noel and husband Michael, of Winchester, VA. and Eve Benson of Panama City Beach, FL; nine grandchildren, Joan Foust, Corin Kierson and Justin Kierson, children of predeceased son Frank L. Kierson, Cody Abrams, son of Charles and Leslie Abrams, Heather and Kimberly Pennington, daughters of Mary Noel, Richard, Jenny and Ryan Brake, children of Eve Benson; 6 great grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her parents, husband Luchen J. Abrams, a sister, Rose Stapleton, two brothers Charles Edmunds and Walter Edmunds, and son Frank L. Kierson.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, November 5, 2011 at 2:00 PM, Bay Center Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility, 1336 St Andrews Blvd., Panama City, FL. A private interment will be in Hampton, VA at a later date.