Varina Claxton Mayo Jenkins La Nieve

LA NIEVE, VARINA CLAXTON MAYO JENKINS passed away on February 10th, just 10 days short of her 103rd birthday. She was born on February 20th, 1915 to Claire Claxton Mayo and Dale Redmond Mayo at Hillcrest, the family home on Lindsay Place in Knoxville. She attended Miss Thackston’s School in Knoxville and then went to Salem Academy in Winston-Salem N.C. where she graduated in 1933, valedictorian of her class. She attended the University of Tennessee, was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority. After the death of her father in 1937, she and her mother and two brothers made a trip around the world, barely escaping the Japanese invasion of China. Upon her return, she married Dr. Harry Hibbs Jenkins. World War II intervened and, as her husband and both brothers went to war, she took over the family business, Mayo Seed Company, and ran it successfully until the end of the war. She was an original member of the Junior Assembly, a member of the Junior League, the Girl’s Cotillion and Cherokee Country Club. She was an accomplished painter, studied under Kermit Ewing and a number of artists at Arrowmont. She was a member of The Artists’ Group and The Knoxville Watercolor Society. She was a devoted member of Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church, where she served as both an Elder and a Deacon, and she was president of the Southern Women’s Presbytery. Mrs. LaNieve was devoted to her friends, her cousin, Janie Deane, her friends Barbara Fulton Gentry, Kathleen Madden Brandeau, all of whom went to Salem with her, and later her dear friends Emily Faust, Betsey Creekmore and Edith Tate. She loved her afternoons painting with her sister-in-law, Josephine Mayo. And she loved our mountains. She began going to Elkmont when she was three years old; her father bought Cabin #7, “Justamere”, from the original loggers, and she spent many, many happy summers there, at home. She and Dr. Jenkins loved entertaining at the mid-century modern home they built on Cherokee Boulevard in Knoxville. After Dr. Jenkins’ death in 1971, she opened her own shop, Fancy Colors, at first downtown and later, designed by her son Harry, in the Kingston Pike Shopping Center. She ran it successfully for a number of years, until she retired and married her long time friend, H. Leslie LaNieve. They had a wonderful few years together. And, of course, she was most devoted to her family. She was the definition of unconditional love. She was pre-deceased by her grandfather, Dr. Philander Priestly Claxton, by her parents Claire and Dale Mayo, by her brothers Dan Mayo and Claxton Mayo, and her nephew Dale Mayo (Gerda). She was pre-deceased by husbands, Dr. Harry Jenkins and Leslie LaNieve, and by her step-daughter, Frances LaNieve Sexton. She is survived by her daughter, Carol Mayo Jenkins and her son, Harry Hibbs Jenkins, her daughter-in-law, Lori Bailey Jenkins, and her granddaughters Caroline Mayo Jenkins and Bailey Claire Jenkins. She is survived by her nieces, Josephine (Cissy) Mayo and Lisa Mayo, nephews Sam Mayo and Claxton Mayo (Wallace), Steven Mayo (Debbie). She is survived by her cousins Phil Claxton III, (Ludmila), Argyle Claxton, Isabelle Claxton, Anne Claxton Raditz (Cary), Kathleen (Susie) Claxton Veronin(Michael), Caroline Claxton, Drs. Martha Anne and Porter Claxton, Libby and Harold Ward, Agnes and Ed Kinschner, Dr. Elizabeth Payne Pierce. She is survived by great-nieces Laura Green, Elise Green Kern, Claire Mayo, Rose Mayo, Alice Mayo Berger, Molly Mayo, Amanda Mayo-Jensen and great-nephews Bryan Mayo, Michael Schaffer, and Taylor Mayo. She is survived by step-son, Leslie LaNieve. The family expresses great gratitude to the staff of Shannondale, where Mrs. LaNieve was in residence for over twenty years. In Retirement, nurses Karen and Pat, in Assisted Living, nurse Kayla, and in Health care, RNs Patty and Melissa, the entire staff of the second floor - Tasha, Eva, Pat, Lonnie, Michael, Ashton, Mary, so many others who cared for her gently and lovingly, Eric Stone and Dr. David Hancock. Most importantly, we are so grateful to two women who cared for Mrs.LaNieve with all their hearts, Tammy Scarborough and Janie Moon. A Celebration of Life service will be held at 2:30 pm on Friday, February 16th in the chapel of Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church, preceded by a graveside service at 1:00 pm at Highland Memorial Cemetery. The family will receive friends in the parlor of the church after the service. Memorial contributions may be made to Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church, attn: Children’s Ministries, 3700 Keowee Avenue, Knoxville, TN. 37919.

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Varina Claxton Mayo Jenkins La Nieve

February 22, 1915 - February 10, 2018