Frances Juanita “Nita” Eichman

Published 6:28 pm Friday, December 28, 2018

Frances Juanita “Nita” Eichman, 89, of Waverly Hall, Georgia, transitioned to her new home in Heaven on Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2018, in Columbus, Georgia, following a brief illness.

She was born May 1, 1929, in Roanoke, Alabama, the second child of Willie Columbus and Ausie Bell (Webster) Brown. She attended Roanoke public schools and graduated from Handley High School in 1947 where she was a cheerleader. She married Jesse C. Brown in 1950 in Troup County, Georgia. They later divorced.

She completed her licensed practical nurse training where she graduated at the top of her class and proudly practiced her profession from the mid-1960s until 2001. She was a general nurse at Randolph County Hospital and Traylor Nursing Home, an industrial nurse for Candlewick Yarns in Roanoke, and the office nurse for many years for Dr. Cecil Major at the Clark-Holder Clinic in LaGrange until Dr. Major’s retirement in 2001.

She married John G. Allen on May 30, 1969, in Rock Mills, Alabama. He died Oct. 19, 1996. During their 27 years of marriage, their home and large front yard on Hwy. 22 east of Roanoke was an annual highlight for the community during the Christmas season as she would design and he would construct elaborate holiday decorations.

She married Thomas Mobley, Oct. 29, 2001, in Lafayette, Alabama. He died May 28, 2005. Reverend Mobley had been one of the founders of a small Baptist church and an agent for the Liberty National Life Insurance Company. Although a brief marriage, Nita and Tom thoroughly enjoyed the early years of retirement.

On May 14, 2008, Nita married Herman Eichman of Waverly Hall, Georgia. Herman was a retired Army sergeant who then worked for several years as an instructor at the regional technical college in Columbus, Georgia. Nita and Herman were active in the Waverly Hall Baptist Church where he was a deacon and she occasionally taught Sunday School. They managed a food supply closet for the church and were instrumental in a variety of church activities including decorations during the seasonal holidays and organization of a Valentine’s banquet. Nita was widowed for the third time when Sergeant Eichman died of cancer in 2014.

She was named Randolph County’s Woman of the Year in 1978 as a result of going the extra mile to help patients and their families at the county hospital and for conducting blood pressure screenings for the elderly at the Rock Mills Church.

Nita appeared very briefly in two motion pictures, “Mississippi Burning” starring Gene Hackman and William Defoe, and a made-for-tv movie for CBS titled “Mama Flora’s Family.” She remembered fondly her exposure to the behind-the-scenes production aspects of a movie and the day on the set when she ate lunch with Mr. Hackman.

She is survived by her son and his wife, professor emeritus Jesse C. “Bill” Brown II and Penny of Huntsville, Alabama; her only granddaughter and her husband, Sharon and Jon Criswell of Huntsville, Alabama; her two great-granddaughters, Bailey Grace Curtis and Madison Lane Criswell of Huntsville, Alabama; her two sisters and brothers-in-law, Billie and Sherman Lambert of Waverly Hall, Georgia, and Betty and Bob Ward of LaGrange, Georgia; and Mr. Johnny Brown, her special friend and caretaker for more than four years; also three nephews, Hershal Green, Lamar Jones and Kelly Jones and their families.

In light of her passing during the holiday season, some accommodation was made for family and friends. There will be an opportunity for visitation with the family on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2019, from 10:30 a.m. until 11:30 a.m. EST at Cox Funeral Home in Manchester, Georgia. There will be a brief graveside service prior to interment at the Randolph Memory Gardens in Roanoke, AL, at 3 p.m. EST (2 p.m. CST), with Rev. Lee Thompson officiating.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to Waverly Hall Baptist Church, P. O. Box 8, Waverly Hall, GA 31831.

Online condolences may be offered at Coxfh.com. Cox Funeral Home, Manchester, Georgia, is assisting the family with arrangements.