Imogene Higgins Frye passed away peacefully on January 31 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she had moved three years ago to be near her daughters, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. "Mamagene," as her grandchildren called her, was 101 years old, and just two months shy of her 102nd birthday.

She was a native of Galax, Virginia, and lived most of her ten decades there. Born in 1924, she was the third of seven children of Mattie Lou Liddle Higgins and Dean G. Higgins. She grew up in the Snow Hill community and graduated from Coal Creek High School. She met Eugene Frye, a young auto body mechanic who had grown up in Mt. Airy, when she was working at the ticket booth at the Colonial movie theater on Main Street. They were married in 1942, and except for a year in Barstow, California, where he was stationed in the U.S. Army during World War II, they lived in Galax, where they raised their three daughters, Debbie, Lisa, and Julie, and attended First Baptist Church. All of them frequently joined Imogene's siblings and their children for Sunday dinners at Imogene's parents' home – a meal requiring hours of cooking by Mattie Lou ("Mama Lou" to the kids), several seatings, and multiple dishwashing sessions to see everyone through to dessert.

Imogene stayed at home to take care of her daughters when they were small, sewing their clothes, gardening, canning, and cooking. When Julie, the youngest, started kindergarten, she went back to work full-time to help support the family, working for a decade at the Sears catalogue order store. After Eugene died at 55 in 1973, she was on her own, supporting the family by working at a variety of jobs at the local Virginia Employment Commission office, Coomes Insurance, Jones Furniture, Waddell Nursing Home, and the local hospice. She also devoted several years to caring for her mother, who lived to be 102.

In retirement, she took pleasure in long, conversation-filled breakfasts with friends at Hardee's and dinners at County Line Café, and in her continued regular attendance at First Baptist Church, where she volunteered for the soup kitchen, serving free meals to those in need. At 70, 80, 90, and beyond she still sported the red lipstick, big earrings and "poofy" (her word) hair that had been her signature style since the 1940s and would be until the last weeks of her life. She drove her own car until she chose to give it up at 94. Word games – Jumbles, crosswords, word searches, Scrabble – were always part of her daily routine, as were the related television game shows, Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy, where she often bested the contestants. She was still doing Jumble puzzles and playing Scrabble until the last two weeks of her life.

Imogene continued to live independently at the house she and Eugene built in 1966 on Parkwood Drive (then called Anderson Road) until 2020, when her daughter Debbie, who had always lived nearby, moved in to assist her. Moving to Winston-Salem with Debbie in late 2022 was not an easy decision after a lifetime in Galax. But with Lisa and Julie and their families living there, Winston provided her the opportunity to take on more fully the role she relished most in her life, being Mamagene to her grandchildren and great-grandchildren – not just on the few occasions a year when everyone came to Galax, but at regular family dinners that recalled Sundays at Mama Lou's and impromptu visits in between. In her final months, when she sometimes was not sure she felt up to participating in dinner, everything changed as she watched the room fill with her kids. It was as if a switch had flipped as the hugs and conversations began. She was Mamagene as they had always known her. And so it was on the last full day of her life that, as ill as she was with pneumonia, she could rally enough to smile and say "I love you" when they gathered around her hospital bed.

Imogene was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, and her siblings Iris Cole, Worth Higgins, Elizabeth Melton, Kenneth Higgins, and Sharon Plichta; her grandson Reid Ashe III; and her son-in-law John Adams, Debbie's husband.

She is survived by her brother Robert Higgins of Galax; her daughters, Deborah  Adams, Lisa Frye Ashe (Reid), and Julie Frye (Doug Borwick); her grandchildren Amy Barnhart Justice (Doug), Stuart Barnhart (Lindsay), Megan Barnhart, and David Ashe (Hillary Stevens), all of Winston-Salem; step-grandsons John Borwick (Lauren Pressley), of Winston-Salem, and John Adams Jr. (Becky) and Jimmy Adams (Missy), both of Galax; great-grandsons Griggs and Henry Barnhart and step-great-grandson Leif Borwick, all of Winston-Salem; and step-great-grandchildren Josh Dalton, Paige Dalton Beasley, Kellie  Bobbitt, Kenley Adams, Jimmy Adams, Jr., Ashley Adams Carrico, and Kyle Adams, all of southwest Virginia; and fourteen nieces and nephews.

A service celebrating Imogene's life will be held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, February 21, at First Baptist Church in Galax with Pastor Sam Bartlett and Dr. Kevin Rosenfeld officiating. The family will receive friends at the church from 10 to 11 a.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in her honor to the soup kitchen fund at First Baptist Church, 1024 E. Stuart Drive, Galax, VA 24333.

Photo Caption: Imogene with her great-grandson Griggs.