Elva Davis Gosnell, born January 1, 1930, was a woman so full of life that everyone around her could not help but feel her contagious strength, compassion, and joy. She crocheted, cross stitched, patched, and quilted with love. She had the best cream corn Appalachia ever tasted and shared her gift of southern cooking with every person who walked through her door. She loved her animals passionately, whether a chihuahua, chicken, or duck. Her animals were her babies. She had more sass in her late years than most children, but that sass only made you laugh. And her laugh lit up the room with the genuine kindness behind it. Elva had a large family: many brothers and sisters, a daughter, three grandchildren, and three great grandchildren. Each of these, she intentionally loved. She passed recipes like boiled cookies and sewing lessons to her grandchildren. Her hands worked diligently in the garden, raising beautiful flowers and crops each year. Those same hands braided her grandchildren’s hair, flipped through children’s books, and rubbed backs until her babies went to sleep. Elva Davis Gosnell brought more love and life to her loved ones than we could ever dream of bringing to the world. She was truly extraordinary and will be missed dearly. She was preceded in death by her parents, Henry and Lucille Davis, her brother, Calvin Davis, and sister, Katherin Pegg, and husband, Paul Gosnell. Elva’s family finds peace knowing she has been reunited with those she has missed and is most definitely hugging the neck of Jesus.
Elva was survived by her sisters, Betty Silvers, Christine Rivers and husband Charles, Clara Boone and husband Larry Davis, her brothers Lewis Davis and wife Elsie, and Gary Davis and wife Margaret, her daughter Wilma Norton and husband Howard, and grandchildren Jeremy Norton and wife Teresa, Corey Norton, and Carisa Hooks and husband Chauncey, and great grandchildren Eli, Marie, and Lauren Hooks.
A funeral service will be held 11am Thursday, January 9, 2020, at Robbie Capps Memorial Chapel of Blue Ridge Funeral Service. Reverends Stanley Peek and Stephen Lloyd will officiate. Burial will follow in Dry Pond Cemetery. The family will receive friends one hour prior to the service.
Online condolences may be sent to the family at www.blueridgefuneralservice.org.