Born Vivian Fay Rutledge on May 29, 1935.  Vivian was the second daughter born to Sam J. Rutledge and Beulah May McCullough Rutledge. She was an identical twin to Vera Mae Rutledge, who was younger by five minutes, a fact that she disliked her entire life.  She would always bristle when someone asked, "who's the oldest?"

Sam and Beulah went  on to have four more children, Barbara, Linda, Henry and David.  Vivian was preceded in death by her parents and her siblings, Margaret Jean (Jeanie), Henry and David.  She is survived by siblings Vera Ott of Canton, Georgia, Barbara Tindall of Sanford, Florida and Linda Sowers of Louisiana.

Vivian was reared and educated for the most part in Memphis, Tennessee (there were a couple of times when her dad, Sam (whom everyone called "Spoon") would move the family somewhere as he chased his ambitions of being a farmer, a gold miner, and various other "crazy pipe dreams" as Vivian called them.

Vivian graduated from Memphis Technical High School (Tech)  in 1952, where she studied secretarial skills.  She was a master of Gregg Shorthand, a skill lost in today's world.

While at Tech, she met a young country boy and dairy farmer, William (Billy) Poff.  They were married on December 25, 1952 in Ashland, Mississippi.  In March, 1954 Billy and Vivian welcomed their only child Janice (Jan).

Following their divorce in 1960, Vivian struck out on her own in a world where being a single mother was very difficult.  Vivian would take hard jobs to provide for herself and her daughter, including the Memphis Defense Depot, which supplied the U.S. Army with many of its needs (food, clothing, etc.) but was most noted for it's making and distributing of Mustard Bombs.

Having Civil Service experience, Vivian then moved to Conway, Arkansas to work in one of the many missile silos built during the cold war.  This facility was best known for making the first ICBM, the Atlas.

Vivian would go on to other Civil Service/Defense-related jobs including one in Springfield, Missouri, where she met a young, handsome Navy man, Floyd Fasking, Sr.  Floyd and Vivian were married in Springfield on July 14, 1962 and in February, 1964, they welcomed their only son, Floyd, Jr.

Vivian then took on one of her hardest jobs in life, that of a military spouse.  This took her to many duty stations around the US and overseas, the last being Jacksonville, Florida, where Floyd, Sr. retired from a career of military service.

It was at one of these stations, in San Jose, California, that Vivian returned to school to study interior design and sewing.

Following his retirement, Vivian and Floyd Sr. opened a chain of high-end furniture stores that were at first designed to cater to military families.  It was here that Vivian's flair for interior design and decorating blossomed.  The stores grew and expanded until Floyd, Sr.'s retirement in 1987.

Never one to stop growing and moving, Vivian moved to Atlanta where Floyd, Jr. was attending college and her twin, Vera, was living.  There she worked as the Executive Secretary to the President of BellSouth Mobility as they started selling the very first cellular phones in the US.

Vivian retired in 1993 and continued to live in the Atlanta area until 2023, when her health began to decline and Floyd, Jr. purchased and renovated a home for her across the street from his in Jacksonville so he could take care of her.

In her off time, Vivian enjoyed reading, traveling (especially cruising), needlework and shopping.  She was an avid collector – of cookbooks (although she did not cook), antique glassware, and anything Christmas.

She is survived by her children, Jan and husband, Rick and granddog, Dino of Jackson, Tennessee; granddaughter, Lee Wilhaucks and husband, Jeff, and great granddaughters, Ella and Emma, of Huntsville, Alabama; and Floyd and wife Teresa and their daughter/stepdaughter, Viviana, and Viviana's children, Christopher and Valentina of Jacksonville, Florida.

Jan and Floyd thank you for being here today to remember our mother.