Valorie Annette (Northup) Andrist

October 12, 1962 — January 9, 2022

Valorie Andrist. 59, was set free from her earthly body on January 9, 2022. She was a role model for all those who face enormous challenges but still have the strength and tenacity to live an extraordinary life.

Valorie was born in Glens Falls, New York to Clayton and Carmel Northup. Within hours of her birth, she would be whisked down to Albany for emergency surgery. Thus would begin a lifetime of physical and medical challenges that would have defeated many others. She would eventually win accolades for her amazing singing voice; she would spend years as a beloved preschool teacher; she would travel to numerous places as a volunteer missionary to children; and would be known for her fierce loyalty and devotion toward her family and friends.

Her family moved from New England to Austin, Texas while Val was still a high school student. When she was a Freshman at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, she met her future husband while singing the role of Amahl in the university’s production of “Amahl and the Night Visitors.” She and Mark Andrist were married in 1983. They would spend a couple of years in northern Japan before moving to Kentucky and the campus of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. While in Kentucky, she and Mark would welcome their adopted daughter, Sarah, into their home and lives. After Mark received his Masters degree they settled in Virginia where they would serve churches in Lynchburg, Richmond, suburban D.C., and Fredericksburg. Valorie was ordained as a deacon at the Rivermont Avenue Church in Lynchburg in 1998. She would serve as the Minister to Children at the Branch’s Church in Richmond in 2004.

She continued to work and live an active life even as her kidneys began to fail in the late 2000s. After a year of receiving weekly dialysis, her native kidneys were extracted and in November of 2014 she received a new kidney donated by her older sister Sue. This enabled her to return to doing the things she loved:  volunteering at church; rooting for her beloved Boston Red Sox; singing with the Virginia Baptist Women’s Chorale; and spending precious time with her family and close friends. But she was diagnosed with Cholangiocarcinoma (Bile Duct Cancer) in October of 2021, which would end her earthly life on January 9, 2022.

The thematic essence of Valorie’s life is best expressed in one of her favorite songs.

Whatever it is you may be going through

I know He’s not gonna let it get the best of you

You’re an overcomer

Stay in the fight until the final round

                                       – Overcomer (Garcia, Glover, Stevens)

Valorie is survived by her husband Mark Andrist; her daughter Sarah Eckert and her husband Scott along with her two granddaughters Chloe and Ellie; her parents Clayton and Carmel Northup; her siblings Bruce Northup, Sue Parker, Curtis Northup and Pam Menke and their families; and her sister-in-law Martha Andrist.

A memorial celebration of life service will be held on Saturday, January 29 at 4:00 PM at Fairview Baptist Church, 900 Charlotte Street, Fredericksburg, Virginia. There will be a private gathering of her family in Texas. And in lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made to:

National Kidney Foundation (https://www.kidney.org)

Schar Cancer Institute (https://www.inova.org/our-services/inova-schar-cancer-institute)

Boston Children’s Hospital (https://www.childrenshospital.org)

Valorie, beloved daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, aunt and fierce friend — we miss you, but rejoice in the freedom you now have outside of the body you suffered in throughout your life.