Vera Pauline Eckard

Vera Pauline Reid Eckard’s life ended on August 31, 2017 after a major stroke. Mrs. Eckard was born January 29, 1930, in the Grace Chapel area of Caldwell County to Nora Kirby Reid and James Frank Reid. She was the wife of Landen Pinkney Eckard and lived on the Drowning Creek Farm in Hildebran.

Mrs. Eckard is preceded in death by her husband, Landen, and grandson, Charles Ray. She is survived by her three children, Lana E. Ray, Lewis P. Eckard, and Sheila E. Lail; three grandchildren, Gina and Heather Lail and George Ray (Moniece). She is also survived by six brothers and sisters; James Reid (Patsy), Jane R. Kirby, Tom Reid (Marie), Dan Reid (Cora), Jerry Reid, Juanita R. Hayse (John) and numerous nieces and nephews.

Mrs. Eckard was nationally known through her American Saddlebred Horses and Hackney Ponies. She competed throughout the Southeast winning countless awards; but most prominently, the World’s Championship for Hackney Ponies Ladies Driving Class in 1983 with her pony, Dunhaven’s Crystal King, and again crowned World’s Champion Amateur Hackney Pony Driver with pony, Centerfold, in 1996. In 1981, Mrs. Eckard served as an ambassador to the American Saddlebred Horse Association traveling to Paris, France to introduce the breed to Europeans. Mrs. Eckard, along with her husband were inducted into the North Carolina Horsemen’s Association Hall of Fame in Raleigh.

A Burial Rite service will be held at The Episcopal Church of the Ascension, 726 1st Ave. NW, Hickory, NC on Saturday, September 2, 2017 at 3:00 PM. The Reverend Karla Woggon and Pastor Wayne White of Oak Grove, Granite Falls will officiate. The family will receive friends in the Parrish Hall immediately following the service. Interment will follow at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made in Mrs. Eckard’s memory to: Catawba Regional Hospice, 3975 Robinson Road, Newton, NC, 28658 or to American Saddlebred Museum, 4083 Iron Works Pkwy, Lexington, KY, 40511.

Condolences may be sent to the Eckard family at www.drumfh-hickory.com.

The Eckard family has entrusted funeral arrangements to Drum Funeral Home and Cremation Services in Hickory, NC.