Mary Edna Allen

BREVARD - Edna Clampitt Allen, 94, went to sing with the angels on Saturday, Aug. 17, 2002. Allen was born July 10, 1908, to Martin Breedlove and Ida Smiley Breedlove in Swain County. She was one of ten children. Tragedy visited her early in life when her mother and two brothers died during the flu epidemic of 1918. But like everything that happened in her life, she recognized it was part of God's plan. Her faith in the Lord and commitment to Christianity led her through a long and rewarding life. She grew up in the Needmore community, leaving the area when the Tennessee Valley Authority built Lake Fontana and moving to Transylvania County, where she spent most of the rest of her life. In 1976, she was preceded in death by her husband of 51 years, Bill Clampitt, who first saw his future bride when she was being baptized in the Little Tennessee River. Her second husband, E.H. Allen, also preceded her in death in 1990. Allen was a gifted musician, expressing her faith in God with music. She sang in churches, where she often accompanied herself on the piano or autoharp. She was an ardent conversationalist and never met a stranger. She is survived by two daughters, Jessie Crane of Brevard and Jean Hollingsworth and husband, Vick, of Pisgah Forest; four grandchildren, Jan Anderson, Gary and Dwight Hollingsworth and Debbie Crane; and one great-grandson, Benjamin Anderson. A service is planned for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at Moody- Connolly Funeral Home. The family will receive friends at 1:30 p.m. prior to the service. Burial will follow in Pisgah Gardens. Donations in Edna's memory can be made to Hospice of Transylvania Community Hospital (TCH Foundation, Inc., P.O. Box 2440, Brevard, NC 28712-9903), which comforted her and her family during her final days.