Virginia Reeder Scott

In the early morning of January 12, 2015 in her 99th year Virginia Reeder Scott passed peacefully from this life surrounded by the love of family and caregivers. Virginia was gifted with a deeply caring and generous spirit. Beneath her modest and self-effacing manner and despite her frequent denials and deferrals to her husband's educated mind, Virginia was one sharp cookie, graciously unobtrusive yet unmistakably intelligent and creative in bringing to bear the great virtue of her loving-kindness.

Virginia Scott met you with a cheerful smile and an encouraging word, often jump-starting your positive mood. No matter who you were, Virginia treated you as if you mattered. Her personality had many facets. Virginia was at once humorously playful and self-effacing, resourceful and determined, alertly curious and inquisitive. She was always polite, humble and unpretentious. Perhaps most importantly, Virginia was by nature accepting, understanding and forgiving. To be in her close family circle was a great blessing. Like her husband, Virginia was free of prejudice, counting you as a friend regardless of race, creed or orientation, a shining virtue passed on to her children and grandchildren.

Indeed, Virginia's moral character was unimpeachable, as solid as granite. Her actions were unwaveringly honest, responsible and unselfish. A child of the Great Depression, Virginia was frugal and simple, unconcerned with (if not downright distrusting of) material wealth and fashion, but relentlessly concerned with the care of her loved ones. If it's true "the last shall be first," Virginia is now without question at the head of the line. Spending on herself was usually her lowest priority, perhaps even a sin. Yet, Virginia gave from an unending fountain of compassion, touching the hearts of pretty much everyone she encountered with love and acceptance. Neither her children nor her grandchildren can recall her ever being mean to anyone.

Virginia Scott was on a quest. She was always a student seeking useful knowledge and practical wisdom. Simply put, Virginia desired to be the best person she could become and in this mission, she was highly successful. As a teacher, she realized we must study life and learn to become effective in realizing our ideals. Is it surprising then that Virginia R. Scott was loved and admired by so many people whose lives she touched throughout an abundance of healthy and fruitful years?

Virginia was born June 17, 1916 in the small town of Rogersville, Alabama when Europe was in the midst of World War I. She was the youngest by 10 years of four children born to W. Brown Reeder and Emma Booth Reeder. It's said Virginia lived up to the name 'reader,' enjoying long hours lost in books. Her father having lost an arm in an accident, Virginia at age 14 became his driver and assistant. Throughout her life she loved to drive (a favorite being her '58 Chevy Bel Air wagon) and only gave it up, as always by her own choice, when she was well past 90. She loved popular music, especially Dixieland and the Big Band swing of Glen Miller and Tommy Dorsey.

Upon graduation from Coffee High School in Florence, Alabama, Virginia enrolled in Montevallo College receiving a degree in Home Economics. She returned to Coffee High as Home Ec teacher where in 1940 she met a new math teacher, Mr. William Owen Nixon Scott, II, of Montgomery. Mr. Scott inquired about Miss Reeder's status and was pleased to learn she was unattached, as he knew immediately Virginia was the girl for him. And so they married June 25, 1941 and remained one for over 65 happy years until Owen's death Dec 24, 2006.

The newlyweds continued teaching at Coffee through 1941; but, plans changed Dec 7, 1941 with the attack on Pearl Harbor. Owen believed his flat feet would preclude being drafted but Uncle Sam had other ideas. Owen became a supply officer in the Army Air Corps; and, after the couple experienced a mini-Odyssey of stateside postings, Owen served in India while Virginia returned to her family in Florence. After the war, he became a professor at the University of Georgia while Virginia took on the new career of mother. Three children came along, Virginia Anne (1947) and Karen Emily (1949) born in Florence, and W. Owen N., III (1952) in Athens, GA.

Owen, II retired from the University in 1983. Virginia, however, having guided her children into adulthood, had discovered another new and exciting career as a collector, researcher and writer. Her area of expertise was Depression glass. More specifically, she was the authority on Imperial Candlewick, a simple and elegantly lovely pattern based on hand-blown glass beads arranged aesthetically as integral elements in the design of each individual piece. Beginning with articles in collectors' periodical publications, Virginia progressed to create, produce, publish and distribute her own homespun newsletter, the Candlewick Collector, which ran from 1976 until 2004 for a total of 126 issues. Her tag line was "a little happiness in the mail" as corresponding readers looked forward to being mentioned in each issue. In 1980, Virginia self-published The Collector's Guide to Imperial Candlewick, the first book on the subject (with copies currently listing at $80.00 on Amazon). The one area where Virginia allowed her pride to show was being designated by her peers "First Lady of Candlewick." Other authorities came along but Virginia was there first. She reached the pinnacle on June 5, 2005 when the National Imperial Glassware Collectors Society presented Virginia with a lifetime achievement award at their annual meeting in Bellaire, Ohio. Many thanks to the Candlewick collectors who made sure Virginia attended that meeting at age 89 and you know who you are!

Her life lived stretched out through from the Roaring Twenties past Y2K and well into the Third Millennium. Having witnessed the advent of television, jet airplanes, space travel, computers, CDs, word processing, and smart phones, Virginia loved to relate how townspeople drove horse-drawn buggies during her early years. She bought her first computer, an Apple iMac, at age 80, using it to produce her newsletter, follow news and keep in touch with family and friends. With the new Mac sitting on her desk, she was thrilled to see her son on Skype once a week for a virtual visit across 600-miles.

Quick to help others, Virginia was fiercely self-reliant, resisting when others tried to take care of her. After moving to assisted living, she would tell family members, "Oh, you don't need to visit me, there's nothing to do here." They came anyway. It was difficult when she survived pneumonia in the summer of 2014 and had to accept the assistance of skilled aides around the clock in two 12 hours shifts daily. Fortunately, the six aides who worked with her from her return home to Iris Place until her death were all exceptional people. Their dedicated care and attention, along with that of daughter, Scottie, facilitated another remarkable physical recovery. Already Virginia had bounced back from two serious hip injuries, uterine cancer, and surgery to remove scar tissue, all since turning 80. She was resilient in the face of losing her parents and siblings, her beloved husband to cancer at the end of 2006 and her child, Anne, to a heart condition in June 2009. Accepting full-time help went against her self-image but Virginia came to realize the benefit of caring help and to love her helpers as they came to love her. Yet, she realized the inevitable declines of 98 years had stolen the joys and passions from her life, one by one. For the first time she began to wonder out loud why God kept her here when she had no more goals to achieve and was limited to so few means of engaging with life. But, as a lifelong Christian who prayed and meditated daily and approached God faithfully through both traditional Methodism and the health-affirming philosophy of Unity Church, Virginia accepted she was not in control and continued to give her best to stay healthy and to give of herself to those around her. She was still seen walking the halls of Iris Place after meals for exercise in the final month of her life. Virginia's fear was becoming gravely impaired and lingering in a sad condition with no hope for healing. Her wish was to leave this world gently and peacefully when her time came. The specter of a painful departure loomed in front of her, when a recurrence of pneumonia necessitated hospitalization and we learned her lungs had suffered irreversible damage. But although Virginia was unable to overcome one more insult to her astoundingly resilient body, God was once more merciful in granting her wish, allowing her to fall into a profound sleep and releasing Virginia gently from the bonds of old age and suffering. The embodiment of the good and faithful servant, her crowning achievement was always to walk in the footsteps of her shepherd, Jesus.

Virginia was preceded in death by her parents, brothers Marvin and Linden Reeder, sister Rubye Steverson, husband, Owen, and daughter Anne. She is survived by Anne's husband, Edward Merry and wife, Brenda, by a daughter, Karen "Scottie" Jarrett, son, Owen Scott, III, their spouses Steve Jarrett and Mary Lou Kelley, a grandson, Scott Merry, and granddaughters, Natalie Merry Pathwick and husband, Andrew, Larisa Baste, and Virginia, Lauren and Maureen Scott, as well as numerous relatives through the Reeder family. Visitation for all will be Friday, Jan 16 from 5-7pm at Lord and Stephens, Lexington Hwy. A memorial service Saturday, Jan 17 from 11am to 12 Noon conducted by Rev. Edward Merry will also be at Lord and Stephens. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. James Methodist Church, where Mom was a near-charter member and her children learned about the faith.