Eugenia Nance Strickland

The funeral service of Eugenia Nance Strickland, 93, of Arlington, who died Friday, Aug. 22, 2025 at Willson Hospice House in Albany, will be conducted Thursday, Aug. 28, 2025 at 11 a.m. at Arlington Baptist Church, 17382 Highland Ave. S, Arlington, with Dr. Gary Hadden and Dr. Van Power officiating. Visitation will precede the service at 10 a.m., and interment will follow in Oak Grove Cemetery, Arlington.

Born May 18, 1932 in Arlington to Sara Tuck Nance and Samuel Thomas Nance, Eugenia Nance was a lifelong resident of the Arlington community, attending and graduating from Arlington High School and developing friendships that continued throughout her life. She attended Georgia State College for Women in Milledgeville, but before finishing there she met her future husband, Bill J. Strickland of Luverne, Alabama. They married in 1951 and settled in Arlington, where she gave birth to a son, William Nance “Billy” Strickland, in 1953 and a daughter, Jane Ellen Strickland, in 1956.

While her children were quite young, “Miss Eugenia” opened a kindergarten, following a path blazed by her mother, who taught first-graders for many years in the local school system. Mrs. Strickland continued in early childhood education when kindergarten was added to the public school, and she also worked for a time as a teacher’s aide at the school.

She had joined Arlington Baptist Church as a girl, crediting, in addition to her parents, her grandmother for leading her to a relationship with Jesus. She was a faithful member of Arlington Baptist for the rest of her life, and there she found another outlet for her love of children by working in the church nursery for many years, leaving the nursery in 2019, when she was specially recognized in the Sunday service for “being the open arms that have loved generations.”

She also loved to accompany her husband, Bill, to the mountains of North Georgia, where he would fish and they would visit shops and natural sites in the area of Helen. They remained a devoted couple until his death in 2001, after which she carried on by keeping house and gardening. She has for years been frequently seen mowing grass and doing yard work, and she continued in this way until a few months before her death.

Eugenia Strickland was predeceased by her parents, her husband, and her brother, Sam Nance, also of Arlington. She is survived by her daughter, Jane Strickland Blair (John) of Beaufort, S.C., her son, Billy Strickland of Albany, two sisters-in-law, Mary Jane Nance of Jacksonville, Fla.,and Trubie Merle Strickland of Luverne, Ala.; two nieces, Janet Nance Faulkner (Stan) of Jacksonville, Fla. and Susan Callaway Anderson of Athens, three nephews, Michael Strickland (Catie) of Troy, Ala., Jimmy Callaway (Mona) of Shellman, and Tom Nance (Robin) of Marietta, as well as many great-nieces and -nephews and cousins, all of whom she loved.

Active pallbearers for the funeral service include Mike Newberry, Mike Stuart, Matt Stuart, Eric Kimbrell, Larry Worsley, and Joe Worsley. Honorary pallbearers are the deacons of Arlington Baptist Church.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Arlington Baptist Church, where Eugenia Strickland was the longest-serving member.

Manry-Jordan-Hodges Funeral Home of Blakely is in charge of arrangements.