Nola F. Cairns passed away on May 17, 2020. She was born on Oct. 23, 1946 to Charles Dallas and Pearl Workman and was raised in Laurel.

Together with her loving husband, Maurice, she will be greatly missed by their six children: Kathy (Chuck) Hendershott of Warsaw, NY, Yvonne (Mike) Smith of Bradford, PA, Becky (Rafael) Benitez of Wallkill, NY, Jack (Kendra) Cairns of West Almond, NY, Chip (Sarah) Cairns of Amherst, NY, and Josh (Dolly) Cairns of Asheville, NC; 18 grandchildren; her sister, Jean Kelley of Laurel; her sister-in-law, Doris Cairns Twitchell of Rising Sun, MD; several nieces and nephews; and a host of other relatives and close friends.

On June 12, 1964, Nola and Maurice married. After their first two children were born, they moved from Delaware to Angelica, NY in 1967 to raise what would become a large, happy family on the Cairns farm.

In time, Nola began to study the Bible along with her husband and the two of them were baptized as Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1970. Many in the community will remember her stopping at their homes and sharing her love of the Bible and her hope for the future (Revelation 21:4).

Nola will forever be remembered as a loving wife, a hard-working mother, a wonderful cook, a warm host with an open-door policy, and one who made visitors feel like family. She was also an avid reader, an artist, a gardener, a bird watcher, and a lover of plants and animals, especially her horses, goats, dogs, and cats. Some called her for advice on just about anything because she never lost her love of learning and a willingness to share what she learned.

Though she became very limited physically in her later years, she was still able to enjoy traveling to places as far away as Alaska, England, and Norway, as well as places closer to home.

In more recent years, she learned how to use social media to keep up-to-date with friends and family, who will remember how she loved seeing their posts and sharing her thoughts on their pictures.

Nola’s life can best be summed up by what she put in her own Instagram profile, “JW 1970 Farmer’s wife. Six kids. A grandma of 18. Interested in…everything!!!”

We all look forward to the day when we can enjoy Nola’s company again by means of the resurrection, when sickness and suffering will be no more.