Annetta Black Hills

As a card shark, she “called a BLACK JACK” & peacefully passed on the 21st of October, 2022 in NC.

Although not in the Witness Protection Program, she was known as: Netta, Mom, MOTHER, Beulah, Sapphire, Zelda Schmidowa, a Sharkette, Nana, Grandma, Gramma Netta, The Great One, Aunt Netta Aunt Net, Mrs. Flannery, Mrs. Carnegie & Mrs. Hills. Also known as a dear friend by many.

In addition to many long forgotten jobs, Annetta had a Sarah Coventry business and worked secretarial positions for Curtis Screw, LeeMar Construction & Selover Construction in the Western NY area.

When Al Carnegie (a Canadian) came into her life, she mastered Yorkshire pudding to go along with a roast beef. Al came with the package of four children and later grandchildren who became part of our lives but continue to live in Canada. For this reason, she joked that we were all related to The Queen. Together we sadly mourned the loss of Al way too soon.

By far her favorite place to be was spending time on their yacht; whether in motion or just floating. In WNY, “The Seven Seas” crossed the historic Erie Canal Lock System like a champ and was a regular at Beaver Island Marina. Riches could be amassed collecting the beverage cans to be returned for .05 each. The beer of choice was hands down, Genny Cream Ale in the green can (mentioned because someday it will no longer exist).

In lieu of baking cookies, Mom taught the fine art of how to “short sheet” a bed and how to properly “marble” a bed. Just for the fun of it to playfully annoy overnight guests. She spoke fluent Op, Eg & Eze (pig Latin); no doubt priding herself in mastering a foreign language. She loved cards & dice games.

Beware while riding in the front seat of her car, Mom had deadly aim of the right arm shield reflex at a sudden stop! She was also adept at a stealthy knee pinch for backseat shenanigans. Much later in life, she would ride in the front passenger seat with a white knuckle grip on the door strap AND the arm rest during a leisurely drive through town. The GPS addition to travel did not come along soon enough to aid her incredible lack of geography skills. No words can explain ending up in the wrong state.

Generosity was her untold private joy. A visitor might just find a spare sawbuck or maybe a C-note secretly handed off to help fill the gas tank. If it were a loan – it had better be paid off in a timely manner. An excellent lesson for us all.

Another of Mom’s lessons was how to smoothly stretch a meal to include unexpected visitors. Her forte in this caper was usually spaghetti & meatballs. Although it could also be something we called “swamp water” (split pea soup?). It should be remembered that long before hard shell tacos existed, Mom learned about soft shells packaged in a can from an army neighbor stationed in Texas. She would stand over a cast iron frying pan of boiling oil to form the hard shells! She often made red sauce from scratch on a Saturday morning which ended up as various meals for the week.

When Bob Hills came into her life, they retired to Key Largo, Florida and began wonderful adventures on their yacht, “Ocean Fox.” She called her life “Key Z” (a pun on easy). Her admiration of the ocean was a daily joy right outside the windows of their house which overlooked the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Intracoastal on the other. More than once she spotted a weary group arriving by sea and sidestepped the authorities (detaining “wet foot” refugees) in order to hand out juice boxes & water. When necessary her MOXIE was tenacious. On a happier note, she was always thrilled when the manatees came alongside her dock to visit and she proudly wore her gold manatee earrings to remember them by. Many leisurely hours were spent playing cards under the tiki hut by the dock.

Annetta is predeceased by her husbands; F.D. Flannery, Alexander Carnegie, Robert Hills and her much loved, much missed sisters Dot Miller & Juanita Jepson Romine. MANY lives she’s touched…

Three Children and their families missing her:

JoAnn Flannery: Chelsey (Jerome), Natalie & Madeline. Jaime, Lauren & Nick. Conner & Vinny. Ryan (Mandy) & Carter;

Tim Flannery (Molly): Brian (Malissa), Dylan & Wyatt. Kevin, Addy & Brielle, Jennifer & Micah, Corey Kelley, Nora and Quinn;

and Diana Corl (David): Julie, Erin (Jamal) & Morgan.

Canadian Family missing her: Wayne Carnegie (Crissy): Meaghan, Alyssa, Nicole & Jessica; Tim Carnegie (Rene): Kim, Shawn, Sierra; Cindy Fisher (Ed): Ben & Matt; Susie Minchin (Jeff): Joey & Emily; George & Diane Carnegie: Greg (in our hearts), Cameron, Scott, Karen.

Sisters missing her: Wilma Knowles & Joan Reinke.

Nieces & Nephews missing her: Nancy, Bobby, Linda & Amy. Patti, Bill and Steven (in our hearts). Tom & Sue. Joni, Gail, DonnaLyn & Mariann. Auxiliary: Linda, Judy, Nancy, Jack & Barbara Wood.

So many friends from Western NY and The Keys are missing her – or just now reunited! Al, Edna, Pat, Berger, Jim, Denny, M. Brown, Schwabs, Youngs, John Boy, Perrys, Bob, Mary, Dottie, and Dr. Dave.

When you see a butterfly; think of her. When you see a lighthouse; know her light still shines brightly. Send her off while smiling – toast with a “W&W” - Beaujolais!!!

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to The Ocean Cleanup or the National Marine Sanctuary Foundation (hyperlinks listed below to their websites).