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On February 18, 2024, Nina Faye Harrell Askew lost her battle with breast cancer. Faye was born on Jan. 7, 1946 to the late Raleigh and Nettie Harrell in Ahoskie, North Carolina. She was the ninth of eleven children. She was predeceased in death by her husband of 53 years, Foy “Strawberry” Askew, and her daughter, Deborah.

Faye married Foy in 1964 and they moved to Suffolk in 1966. She began her professional career at Planters Peanuts, then on to Starky-Matthews (later known as Tidewater Wholesalers), Virginia Peanut and finally for the last 30 years she loved working for the Western Tidewater Community Services Board. She was active in many community events and was always the first to volunteer. In 1968 she began bowling on a Tuesday night duckpin league and from those Tuesday nights she developed many lifelong friendships. She was always the first to support her kids, siblings, nieces, nephews, neighbors, and all of her friends in all of their endeavors, always there at the game with her cow bell, school colors and the loudest voice in the stands. The one thing that Faye loved was being at the center of the room in the middle of or most of the time leading the fun and creating laughter in the room. No one loved to have fun more than Faye. She has been leading the Harrell family for years by taking on the roles of organizer, communicator, caregiver and countless other roles to her mother and many of her siblings in their time of need. She always wanted to make sure that each generation stayed connected to the next. When anyone had a question about when something happened, what date was anyone’s birthday or place and time of any event the answer was always “Go ask Faye”. She was the encyclopedia of our family.

Faye is survived by her son, David Askew (Joanne Wunderlich), and daughter, Dianne Telford (Luke); grandchildren, Chloe Tschudy (Jacob), Ethan Telford (Katie Tolliver), Paisleigh Pelot (Andrew), Keegan Telford, Joseph Askew, and Claire Askew; great grandchildren, Olivia, Brielle, Caleb, Dahvie, and Jackson; and sisters, Lucy Paul and Eleanor Runfola. There are a ton of nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews that loved them some Faye.

Faye’s celebration of life service will be 2 pm, Friday, Feb. 23, 2024 at Parr Funeral Home & Crematory with Pastor Rich Meiser officiating. Visitation will be from 7-8 pm, Thursday, Feb. 22, 2024 at the funeral home.

We would like to thank the staff of Sentara Obici Hospital for how well she was cared for. The teams on 1 North, Step Down, 1 South, and 3 North, along with the Care team provided an excellent level of care. Thank you to Virginia Oncology for the added years we had after her initial diagnosis. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Boy Scout Troop 1 – Suffolk, VA and The American Cancer Society.

As the saying goes: Faye has left the building!