Hermine Farthing Heller

Hermine Farthing Heller

April 26, 1937 – August 3, 2026

Hermine Farthing Heller passed away peacefully and surrounded by family at the age of 89 at Baptist Hospital in Winston Salem, NC. She was the only child of Otis B. and Evelyn I. Farthing, born on April 26, 1937 in Reidsville, NC. Hermine attended South End Elementary School, Reidsville High School, and graduated from Bethany High School.

After high school, she worked for the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Cone Mills, First National Bank of Reidsville, and as an organist and pianist at several local churches.

Hermine enjoyed volunteering for church events dating back to the 1950's and until her health would no longer allow late into her 80s. She served as a Sunday School teacher, choir member, pianist and organist, and made the best homemade tortillas for Baptist Temple's special dinners. She was active in the Woman’s Missionary Union (WMU), the Women's Prison Ministry, and the Boy Scouts. She loved visiting Ridgecrest and Caswell Beach for special events, and many other mission trips with her church family over the years – sharing her faith with those in Boston, Houston, and Bali, Indonesia – just to name a few. She was an avid reader and advocate for literacy who volunteered her time as an ESL and reading instructor to many young and old who wished to learn. She served as Executive Director at Dan Valley Baptist Association and ran the annual Dan Valley Toy Store that allowed thousands of children to have gifts under their trees and food on their tables for many Christmases. Hermine was a hospitality coordinator at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center’s Cancer Patient Support Program for many years and treasured helping others navigate their journey there as she had with her late husband, Douglas Powell. She was recognized as Volunteer of the Year in 2016 at their Winterlark annual fundraising event. Even in her sickness over the past few months, she was pondering more ways that she could serve the community. A true “servant heart” to the end.

What she may be remembered for the most are the thousands of pound cakes she baked over the past 15+ years. What started as a temporary fundraising project for one of her mission trips became her full-time ministry in her retirement. She donated countless pound cakes to Baptist Hospital, Ancora Compassionate Care (Hospice of Rockingham County), and the Reidsville Soup Kitchen. Everyone she knew who fell ill or had a family member that was sick, had a new baby, or any other special event in their life also got a free homemade pound cake. She always said that her “secret ingredient” was prayer over every single cake she baked. She would pray for whoever was receiving that cake and their special needs. She quickly became known as The Pound Cake Lady across multiple counties and states and even once had a single pound cake garner a $1,500+ donation at a Baptist Hospital Fundraiser!

Hermine was preceded in death by her beloved son, Jon M. Knight; grandson Job Parrish; granddaughter, Eliana Warren and her parents Otis and Evelyn Farthing.

Hermine is survived by her loving husband, Robert “Bob” Heller; her children, Maurice Knight (Lina) of Oxford, England, Dawn Knight Jones of Stoneville, Beverly Knight (Judy) of Gastonia, Ed Knight (Lidija) of Alexandria, VA; Melinda Payne (David) of Reidsville, and James Weeder (Yun) of Killeen, TX, daughter-in-law Trish Larimer of Reidsville. She is also survived by her stepchildren, Ann Heller, Janice Brannon (Patrick), Bobby Heller (Holly), and David Heller (Stacey) as well as twenty-one grandchildren and twenty-four great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at First Baptist Church 409 S Main St, Reidsville, NC 27320 on August 15 at 2:00pm. The family will receive friends from 1:30-2:00pm in the church sanctuary.

The family requests instead of flowers, please consider a donation to Reidsville Soup Kitchen at 121 Arlington St, Reidsville, NC 27320 or go out and do a good deed in her memory!

Citty Funeral Home is assisting the Heller family.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Hermine Farthing Heller, please visit our floral store.