Mary Virginia Carlisle

Miss Mary Virginia Carlisle passed away peacefully on July 25, 2009, just a few months shy of her 100th birthday, at Bon Secours Nursing Center, Suffolk VA, where she had resided the past few years. Miss Carlisle was born October, 10, 1909 in Portsmouth, Virginia, and was a life-long resident of West Park View in Portsmouth. She was a member since childhood of Park View Methodist Church, and enjoyed attending and visiting other churches as well. She eagerly attended church services at Bon Secours until the last week of her life. Aunt Virginia had a very long and a very good life, as she often told her family and friends. She graduated from high school at age 15, worked for several years to save money, and then attended Radford College. She worked for several lawyers in Portsmouth before beginning work at Greenbrier Farms Nursery in Chesapeake as office manager, a position from which she retired many years ago. Virginia was an avid traveler and greatly enjoyed visiting all fifty states and several other countries, often striking out on her own, driving cross-country as a young woman. Her nieces and nephews were the happy recipients of exotic gifts she brought to us from her travels. She had a hearty sense of humor, an irrepressible spirit, and made new friends every day of her long and full life. She often said she thought the reason she had lived so long was so she could try to help other people. She was a voracious reader and loved to write poetry. Miss Carlisle is survived by her sisters, Adelaide Downing Carlisle White and her husband, Vernon, who live in Province Place in Portsmouth, and Eleanor Christie Carlisle Penny, who lives in El Cajon, CA, these twins being the remaining siblings of the ten children of Mary Cotton Downing Carlisle and Arthur Walter Carlisle. She is also survived by her nephew, Thomas Arthur White of Portsmouth, 7 nieces Carolyn Creekmore and Linda Carlisle both of Portsmouth, Marion Perrine, Sharon Penny Palmore and Lisa McCleary all of San Diego, CA, Christie Carlisle Sohlstrom of Portland, OR and Bette Carlisle of Los Angeles, CA. She has many, many grand and great-grand nieces and nephews, all of whom she cherished. She was a fun-loving and generous soul and we will miss her. One of our favorite stories of Aunt Virginia is about the time a new co-worker admired her blouse, so Virginia changed into a jacket in the restroom and came out and gave the blouse to her friend. She showed us many things she had learned about living a good life. We wish to extend our sincere gratitude to the wonderful staff at Bon Secours Nursing Center and to the volunteers from Bon Secours Hospice for the loving care and comfort they provided our sister and aunt, most especially Chaplain Charles Leavitt and Reverend Ervin Johnson, who were her faithful companions, A private family service will be held at Meadowbrook Memorial Gardens. Loving Funeral Home, Churchland Chapel is handling the arrangements.