Fannie Lue (Moss) Hawley, a longtime Montclair resident, died peacefully on Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020. She was 93.
Mrs. Hawley was born on July 3, 1927, in Creedmoor, N.C., the second of 11 children of Robert Lee Moss and Truemella (Blacknell) Moss. In 1947, she graduated from St. Agnes Hospital School of Nursing in Raleigh, N.C., and began her 42+ years of dedicated service as a registered nurse, passing state boards first in North Carolina and later in New Jersey.
Soon after, she met a widower, Toney Hawley, with a very young daughter, Brenda. He would eventually become her husband: She became a much-devoted wife and stepmom in 1952.
Shortly after their marriage, they settled in Montclair. From their nearly 60-year union they had two sons, Toney L. Hawley Jr. and Jarvis E. Hawley.
While waiting to begin her nursing career in New Jersey, Mrs. Hawley briefly worked at the Little Falls Laundry. Soon she accepted a nursing career offer from Mountainside hospital; after about two years at Mountainside, she was recruited for an RN position at the recently built Montclair Community Hospital, where she was assigned to the intensive care unit.
During the last 14 years of her nursing career, Mrs. Hawley was the head nurse of her 11 p.m. shift in the intensive care unit. She retired from Montclair Community Hospital in 1989.
Mrs. Hawley was a member of St. Matthew A.M.E. Church in Orange.
In addition to her two sons, she is survived by her stepdaughter, Brenda D. Tucker (John); two sisters, Ruby Mitchell (Ballem) and Mamie K. Francis Cannady; a brother, Lonnie Moss (Mandy); two sisters-in-law, Theodora Moss and Ila Burt; four step-grandchildren; four step-great-grandchildren; and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives, church family and friends.
Mrs. Hawley was predeceased by her husband of 59+ years, Toney; three brothers, Robert Gray, William and Charles Moss; three sisters, Flossie Moss, Mary Washington and Ruth Moss, and a daughter-in-law, Audrey C. Hawley (Jarvis).
She will be buried next to her husband at the cemetery of New Hope Missionary Baptist Church in Oxford, N.C., where they previously were members.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to a breast cancer research organization, to the benevolent/missionary unit of your church, to Grace Hospice Healthcare in Edison, or to your local EMS volunteer ambulance unit, or plant a memorial tree via the CaggianoMemorial.com website.