Nina Harvey

(Read by Pastor Truett Johnson at Mother's Funeral Service January 13, 2001)Nina was born at home in Greenville, Mississippi to Harold and Ora Lee Noel. Her father worked for the railroad and her mother had been a telephone operator. Nina, named for her paternal grandmother, was a spunky child. She and some children in her neighborhood were bitten by a rabid dog and had to undergo painful shot treament for weeks. The doctor said Nina was the bravest little girl because she never cried during the treatment and awarded her a box of chocolates. On another occasion her mother who was expecting company for Sunday dinner and found herself short a can of tomatoes, telephoned the grocer down the block who graciously opened his door to accommodate her dilemma. Nina was sent to buy the tomatoes but when the tyke was told the price she promptly told the storekeeper to keep his tomatoes because his competitor down the street sold them for two cents less. Her mother was understandably chagrinned.As a child her family moved from Greenville to New Orleans and then to California. Nina was big sister to Helen, three years younger. They were great pals and Nina was always very protective of her little sister.In California Nina graduated from San Pedro High School in 1934 and attended Long Beach City College, but in her freshman year met handsome sailor Chester Harvey from Kingston, Tennessee and was married Friday April 26, 1935. Chester's ship put to sea shortly thereafter. The determined bride decided to surprise her husband in his new port of call and obtained a job in Mrs. Peacocks Tea Room. She worked one month, just long enough to raise bus fair to Seattle, Washington where she called Chester's ship and asked him to meet her ferry boat, the Kalakala, at the dock in Bremerton. She brought only one suitcase and the portable radio that they had received from her parents as a wedding gift. Thus began her years of following the fleet to be with her sweetheart.Between 1935 and 1944 Nina gave birth to Chet Jr., Helen, and Leora, and after World War II they bought their first home on Luray Street in Long Beach, California. Long separations made Nina a true multi-talented military wife who became used to making all the decisons for the family. She traveled by car with two kids in the back seat and a baby in a basket from coast to coast meeting Chester in Florida, Norfolk, Virginia, Oregon, and many times in Washington. These were the days when singing in the car was the way the family passed the time and miles. Sunday School songs, Burma Shave signs, Ninety Nine Bottles of Bear on the Wall, Row Row Row your boat, I've Been Working on the Railroad and Church in the Wildwood were standard entertainment. Nina lead the singing.In 1950 Nina's father, then a successful real estate broker in Santa Ana, California, passed away. While stationed at Mare Island Naval Base, Vallejo ,California in 1953 Harold was born. The family moved off base and purchased their second home on Tennessee Street. Sara Jane was born in 1955, twenty years after the couples first born.With the start of a ''second family'' Nina began anew her college education. Now 38 years old with two toddlers at home,Helen a college sophomore and Chet a recent college graduate newly married to Luretta Smith, she began her goal of a degree in education. Leora became the built-in baby sitter. Within two years of starting the education program, Nina was teaching on a Provisional California Teachers Credential and attending college classes at night and summers.On a Sunday afternoon drive in 1960 Nina found the house of her dreams, an 1886 Queen Ann Victorian on a very large lot in the heart of Benicia, California. She negotiated a good price and purchased the home fully furnished as if the former residents had just walked out one day. She had to tell Chester later. Chester resisted at first, but soon learned to love being lord of the plantation.Nina finally graduated from Sonoma State College in 1966. She was teacher/director of the Kiddie Academy Nursery School in Vallejo, California. She went on to teach in a two room school house at Browns Valley Elementary School in Vacaville, California for three years and then for over 20 years in the Benicia Unified School District as a sixth grade teacher and sixth/seventh grade science teacher. She retired in 1982.The family had 27 years of joyous and sometimes difficult living in that extraordinary home. Laughter, Easter Egg Hunts, all kinds of celebrations were the norm as it became the gathering place for the extended family.Nina's mother came to live with the family after an injury in 1970 and Nina lovingly cared for her while managing a big house, a young family, a teaching career and a retired husband until her mother's death in 1983.Twice before Nina retired she took trips to Europe accompanied each time by a family member. Chester stayed home. He'd done his traveling during his 30 year Naval career.In 1985 the children gave Nina and Chester a trip to Hawaii for their 50th wedding anniversary. The occasion was celebrated at Chet and Luretta's home in Renton, Washington. Chester, who had ''done his traveling'', went out of love for his sweetheart.With their health failing, in December of 1988 Nina and Chester moved to Port Orchard, Washington to be closer to their family. They settled into the property known as ''The Farm'' owned and newly remodeled to meet their special needs, by daughter Helen and her husband Gordon Simmons. Here in this serene and beautiful atmosphere Nina regained quality of life. Her health problems were identified and properly treated by doctors at Bremerton Naval Hospital. Chester lived at ''The Farm'' for 1 1/2 years. His time was reminiscent of his boyhood days on the farm in Tennessee down to the wood stove in the kitchen. Chester died unexpectedly after entering the hospital for hip replacement surgery and was found to have very advanced cancer.In the years following Chester's death, Nina traveled extensively. She took jaunts to Missouri and Tennessee with Sara and Aimee, Disneyworld with Chet and Retta, Europe with Aimee and again with Holly. Her trips included two extended visits in Alaska with Harold and his wife Shirley. While there Nina underwent two major surgeries with Nurse Shirley lovingly caring for her during her recovery. During her stays, Harold took his mother on scenic rides searching for wild game from the Artic Circle to Anchorage, which she enjoyed immensely. Four years ago (1996) Nina took her dream trip of a lifetime to Africa, arranged and accompanied by her namesake granddaughter and daughter Lee. On safari in Kenya she fed the giraffes, danced with the Massai tribe, dined on zebra, crocodile, and water buffalo (none of which are endangered species).Nina faithfully attended services at Harper Evangelical Free Church and through her life taught Sunday School in many locations. Nina introduced her children to the Lord and faithfully took them to Sunday School and Church wherever they lived. Though her health failed and she was physically unable to ramain the dynamo she always had been, her faith never wavered and she continued to invest her energies in prayer for her family and those she loved. In the last four months of her life Nina went to North Kitsap football games and concerts (her daughter Sara is band director) family holiday and birthday parties, a trip to Utah to visit her dear sister Helen and attend the wedding of her great niece. All these family activities she greatly enjoyed.On Monday January 8, 2001 Nina went to be with her Lord. She fell asleep in her easy chair in front of the TV and woke up in eternity. God bless you Nina. Well Done!Prepared by Helen Simmons and her husband Gordon with inputs from family members on January 11, 2001.