Deanna Jannie (Guffey) Bland

Deanna Jannie Guffey Bland was born in 1939 in Rutherford County, NC, to Geneva Greene Guffey and Richard Devault Guffey. She attended Women’s College in Greensboro (now UNC-Greensboro), majoring in Fine Art and Art History.  She was a professor of art at Western Carolina University, Brevard College (FLA), Appalachian State University (NC), North Greenville College (SC), and Alderson Broaddus College (WV). She exhibited her artwork in galleries across the southeast. She also designed sets for plays and dance performances and owned two art galleries in western North Carolina.

In 1962, Deanna married David Parker Bland of Rutherfordton, NC and had one child, Celia. She was the proud grandmother of Elijah, Geneva, and Avis Zane and, until recently, lived near them in the Hudson Valley of New York.

Deanna moved to the Eastern Shore of Virginia with her daughter, Celia, and son-in-law, Alexander Zane in 2022. She died after a short illness on December 13, 2025 at Shore Health and Rehabilitation in Parksley, VA.

The family will gather privately to celebrate Deanna’s life.

Arrangements by the Williams-Parksley Funeral Home.

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