Mrs. Virginia Sherman Lavender, 96, passed away at her home at Providence Personal Care Community in Senatobia on May 10, 2019. Born on November 6, 1922, at her family home near Charleston, she was the fourth child of Otey J. and Aline West Sherman. Her family was one of the oldest farming families in the Mississippi Delta. She graduated valedictorian of her senior class at Charleston High School in 1940 and received her bachelor of art in history from Millsaps College in Jackson in 1944, where she was a member of Chi Omega sorority and the Millsaps Singers.
On November 9, 1946, she married Edward Darby Lavender of Charleston. They settled in Marks in April of 1948 where they raised a family of five children and owned and operated Lambert Marks Express and Tunica Truck Line, trucking companies. She was gifted in arranging flowers and was president of both the Marks Garden Club and the Riverside Garden Club. She was a member of the Marks Presbyterian Church where she sang in the choir and was instrumental in the funding efforts for the purchase and installation of the church’s pipe organ in the 80’s. In 1996, she said goodbye to her hometown of Marks and moved to Memphis, where she lived until health issues necessitated her move to Providence Personal Care Community in Senatobia.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 39 years, “Bud” Lavender and one grandson, Andrew Sherman Lavender.
She is survived by her children, Susan Lavender Kelley of Boquete, Panama; Darby(Wanda) of Germantown, Tenn; John (Celia) of Clarksdale; Kay Lavender Wall (Lebo) of Black Mountain, N.C. and Melissa Lavender of Panama City, Fla.; four grandchildren , Virginia Foxworth, Mary Darby Guidroz, Leavell Wall, Catherine Simmons; and seven great-grandchildren.
Family and friends will gather at the Marks Presbyterian Church for visitation at 1 p.m. Monday, May 13, 2019 with Dr. Laurie Jones officiating at the 2 p.m. funeral. Burial will follow at the Sherman Family Cemetery near Charleston.
Memorials may be made to the Marks Presbyterian Church in Marks.
