Nedra Jean Downing

Nedra Jean Hall was born on January 1, 1936 to Julia Etta Spengler Hall and Bard Kenneth Hall in Wauseon, Ohio.

She graduated from Wauseon High School where she played flute and piccolo in the marching band and school orchestra. She became a chemistry major at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana where she pledged Alpha Gamma Delta sorority. After two years, she transferred to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor where she graduated with a B.S. in Pharmacy three years later.

In 1958, she married Edward S. Hollar, D.D.S. and settled in Flushing, Michigan where they had three children: Laura Lee in 1960, Thomas Edward in 1962, and Margaret Anne in 1967. The couple divorced in 1971. She married Howard G. Downing, Jr. in 1972.

She worked at the University of Michigan Hospital pharmacies, Bejcek’s Pharmacy in downtown Flushing, and McLaren Hospital pharmacy in Flint before setting up her own pharmacy, Consultant Pharmacy, to provide service to nursing homes.

She earned an M.S. in Human Nutrition in 1985, and a D.O. degree in 1986 from Michigan State University in East Lansing.

She worked in a family practice clinic in Flint, then a women’s health clinic in Clarkston before setting up her own Nutritional and Environmental Medicine practice in Clarkston, the Downing Clinic. She retired in 2006 when Laura took over the clinic.

Enjoying retirement, she and Howard have traveled extensively, and she pursued her very great interest in cooking and writing. She also wrote a lot of poetry and four books, including a book about her son’s life and death, When Tom Went West, was published in 2016.

She and Howard lived a full life in their peaceful woodland setting in Holly, Michigan where they shared their lives with Dusty, the black cat, and their standard poodle Flora. Each fall they spent three weeks on the sandy shores of Lake Superior on the Keweenaw Peninsula near Copper Harbor.

Nedra is survived by husband Howard, daughters Laura (Richard) Kovalcik and Margaret Tirkes, and grandchildren John and Katherine Tirkes. She was preceded in death by son Thomas Edward Hollar, sisters Cara Milnor and Janice Dielman.

In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to The Michigan Nature Association or the charity of your choice.

The family is hosting a memorial in celebration of Nedra’s life at Hill Funeral Home, 11723 S. Saginaw Street, Grand Blanc, Michigan at 1:00PM on January 11, 2025 with a memorial visitation one hour prior.