Jeanette Nuffer Erdman died at home from complications of a long difficult battle with Parkinson’s Disease on September 3rd.
She was the youngest of six children born to Roy W. Nuffer and his wife Esther. Born and raised on a dairy farm near Beaver Falls, New York she attended a one-room schoolhouse and other rural schools, graduating in 1946. She went on to continue her education at the State University of New York, Albany, earning both bachelor and master degrees, concentrating in English and French. She began a teaching career in Cherry Valley, NY, then moved to Ellenburg, NY, and eventually to Gouverneur Central Schools, NY. She had a reputation as a solid teacher who ran a well-disciplined class.
While in Gouverneur she went on a blind date arranged by mutual friends and met and married her husband George Erdman. They were married on April 17, 1958 in Upstate New York and honeymooned in Boston. She then left her teaching career to raise the couple’s four children George, Jennie, Sarah (Moser) and Dan. She was a kind, loving, and devoted mother to her family, and she and George also welcomed Geneva Garvin Drakeford into their home, fostering her through her high school and early college years through a church program. George and Jeanette were members of both Gouverneur, NY and Brevard, NC First United Methodist Churches. They moved to Brevard, North Carolina in 1990.
Jeanette enjoyed traveling with her husband, and in later life joined him on the golf course where she experienced the thrill of a hole in one. As a mother, Jeanette made family game nights a regular event, as well as delicious home-cooked meals, hand-made clothes, and many other loving touches. In addition to her family life she loved to garden, play bridge, read, and travel. She was extremely talented as a seamstress and with fine needlework, creating beautiful quilts, pillows, and wall hangings. Hers was a life well-lived and full of love. She will be greatly missed by her loving and fiercely devoted husband George of 63 years, her 4 lucky children, her sister Joan Dando, and her 10 grand-children, who she adored. Special thanks to the staff of Four Seasons Hospice, and her kind and loving caregivers. A service to celebrate Jeanette’s life will take place at Brevard First United Methodist Church on Friday, October 1st at 1pm. A private graveside service will be held in Beaver Falls, NY at a later date. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation, with information at www.parkinson.org.