Odell Allan Poff, Jr.

Odell Allen Poff, Jr. passed away on August 4, 2025.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Barbara Basham Poff; parents, Odell Allan Poff, Sr. and Edna Poff; siblings, Ralph and Linda.

Odell is survived by his son, Odell Poff and wife, Julie; grandson, Joseph Poff and wife, Malynda.

Odell wrote his own obituary.

On August 4, 2025, I, Odell Allan Poff, Jr., came to the end of my life. It started in Christiansburg in 1937 where I spent my youth years. In 1953 I met a sweet young girl from Shawsville by the name of Barbara Basham. In 1958 she became my wife and we made our home in Shawsvillle. As a result of this union, we had a son Odell A. Poff, III. He married Julie Powers which gave me a grandson, Joseph Allan Poff. I have had a very good life. I am content to lie beside my wife, Barbara, in Sunset Cemetery for eternity.

When I was about 13 years old I was at a Boy Scout campfire. We had a discussion about what you would do if your mother and wife were on a sinking boat and they were going to drown. If you could only save one who would it be? The correct answer was your wife, because according to the Bible you forsake all others. I did not understand at the time but, later in life I have been in complete agreement. I then thought if the wife is the most important in your life, then there are others that are more important in life than others. So I have, in my mind, made a list of those who are most important to me. Of all the people I have ever known, these are the top 5 on my list in this order:

1. Barbara my wife. Not only because the Bible says so, she was a wonderful person and had always been good to me. There was no better person for me.
2. Odell my son. I have always been very proud of him. He has a wonderful family of his own. He has been very loving to his mother and me.
3. Joseph my grandson. He is very sweet and compassionate to his whole family. We have had a lot of fun together.
4. Julie my daughter-in-law. She was a friend to Barbara and me, a dedicated wife to Odell and a loving mother to Joseph.
5. Allan myself. The reason I chose myself over all others is that I feel that I need to be there to take care of the above to the best of my ability.

I put a lot of thought in this. In a life or death decision how could you pick your wife or son? It gets no better with your son or grandson. Thankful God doesn’t make a person make this decision very often. What thinking about this topic did for me was make me realize who was important to me and in what order.

In my lifetime, I have met a lot of people, other than my family, which I respected and admired. At the top of my list was my Grandfather Poff. He always treated me like I was someone important to him. I hope that I have lived up to the example he set for being a Grandfather.

There was a group of youth that brought me a lot of enjoyment. They were the Scouts and sandlot players that I worked with over the years. The sandlot players knew more about the game than I did. Some of the scouts went on to do better than I did in Scouts. I would like to thank them for letting me help them. I learned more from them than they did from me. Knowing them made me a better person for which I am grateful.

Per Allan’s wishes, the family will have a private graveside service at Sunset Cemetery.