Nansemond County Virginia USGenWeb Archives Obituaries.....Riddick, Mary C. Copeland, 1935 

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MARY CATHERINE COPELAND RIDDICK 

Aged Suffolk Resident Dies; Rites Tuesday 

Mrs. Mary Catherine Riddick Succumbs After Short Illness 

  Suffolk, Dec. 29 - Mrs. Mary Catherine Copeland Riddick, aged 95, Suffolk’s 
oldest resident, and one of the most influntial women of this community, died 
this morning at her home on Bank Street.

  Mrs. Riddick was born at "Poplar Lawn," the old Copeland home in Nansemond 
County, in 1840, the daughter of Col. John R. Copeland and Mrs. Judith Anne 
Hunter Copeland.  Her mother, who also was a member of a distinguished 
Nansemond family, was born at "Piney Pleasant," South Quay, in Nansemond 
County.

  In 1879, she married John [sic; Jethro] Ballentine Riddick, who lived 10 
years, during which time she resided in Portsmouth.*  At the death of her 
husband Mrs. Riddick returned to Suffolk, where for 46 years she had made 
her home.

  While she had no children of her own, she was a mother to her nephews and 
niece, and later to their children.

  Mrs. Riddick was a woman of unusual qualities of mind and heart.  Possessed 
of a brilliant intellect, she found few men or women who were her superior in 
business ability, and her broad and tolerant views and her wide and 
unobtrusive charities over a long life endeared her to the community.

  She lived to see the candlelight by which she studied replaced by 
electricity, and the stagecoach and sailing vessel of her early days replaced 
by streamlined trains, automobiles and airplanes.

  She saw her country involved in four wars, the Mexican, the War of the 
Seccession, the Spanish-American and the World War.

  Mrs. Riddick was a member of the Suffolk Christian Church and its oldest 
communicant.  She also was a member of the Daughters of the Confederacy.

  Until her last illness of a few weeks, she retained a keen interest in world 
affairs, and was a wide reader.

  Surviving are three nephews, Frank A. Holladay, John C. Holladay and J.E.B. 
Holladay, and a niece Mrs. R.H. Pretlow, the children of her only sister, Mrs. 
Beverly Copeland Holladay; four great-nephews, John C. Holladay, Jr., Francis 
Pretlow, and Frank D. Holladay, and the following great-great-nephews and 
niece: Cleo and Francis Beverly Holladay and Beverly L. Holladay, Jr.

  She also is survived by a niece-in-law, Mrs. Frank A. Holladay, with whom 
she made her home.

  She was also a relative of John P. Lee, of this city, and Mrs. John A. 
Williams, of Franklin.

  Funeral services will be conducted Tuesday morning at 11 o’clock at the 
Suffolk Christian Church by the Rev. Dr. John G. Truitt, pastor, assisted by 
the Rev. Herbert N. Tucker.

  Burial will be in Cedar Hill Cemetery.


Mary Catherine (COPELAND; Mrs. Jethro B.) RIDDICK, 
b. 1840, "Poplar Lawn," Nansemond Co., d. 29 Dec 1935, at home, Suffolk, 
interred in Cedar Hill Cemetery (Block B, Lot 31**), Suffolk, 31 Dec 1935, 
donated obit, publication unknown 

**Her parents are buried in the same lot. 
   Cedar Hill list, an extension of the Southampton County Historical Society 
   {SCHS} Cemetery Project: 
   http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/cemeteries/cedar_p.txt 

*She m. Jethro Ballentine RIDDICK 10 Jun 1879, in Suffolk. 
   He died 8˝ years later, 11 Dec 1887. 


Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by 
Mrs. Bruce Saunders (bs4403@verizon.net), 
and re-formatted by File Manager. 

file at: 
http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/nansemond/obits/r320m4ob.txt