BIOGRAPHY

Virginia Jefferson was born as Virginia Adair Davis in Forest, Bedford County, Virginia, USA on 14 August 1912, the fifth of nine children born to parents Alonza Davis and Otelia Craighead. She grew up on a farm with her eight siblings (four brothers and four sisters): Oneatha, William, Harrison, Houston, Elsie, Augusta, Jasper, and Lessie. In her youth, she did anything she could to help around the farm, which had cows, chickens, horses, pigs, and a garden. At 17, she started working as a homemaker for the Murrell family on Rivermont Avenue in Lynchburg. At 21, she became a live-in homemaker for the Gleason family on Perrowville Road in Forest, Virginia.

On 22 April 1938, she married Malcolm Murrell Jefferson. The couple had two children, Langhorne Jefferson Anderson and her stillborn twin brother. The couple lived for five years at the Boonsboro Country Club, where they were both employed, before moving to Forest, Virginia. At the Boonsboro Country Club, her husband served as the manager while she worked as a cook and baker. Several of her special recipes were published in local cookbooks. In 1953, the family moved to Lynchburg, Virginia, where she remained until the age of 106. In February 2019, she moved to the Westminster Canterbury retirement community. She surrendered her driver’s license at the age of 106, deciding that she was “too old to drive.”

Her husband died in May 2008. She taught herself how to play the piano, and used to sing in church choir at Altha Grove Baptist – the church she used to attend since she was young. She was a devoted member of the Forest church. Jefferson said that she didn’t know exactly what the key to a long life was but attributed much of it to her hardworking demeanor and faith in God.

Virginia Jefferson passed away at the Westminster Canterbury retirement community in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA, on 4 June 2024, at the age of 111.

RECOGNITION

Her age was verified by Stefan Maglov, and validated by LongeviQuest on 13 February 2023.

On 15 April 2024, following the passing of 111-year-old Edith Hamlin, she became the oldest (known) living person in Virginia. Upon her passing, she was succeeded by Pauline Cook.

ATTRIBUTION

* “Bedford-native celebrates 107th birthday” – WSET, 12 August 2019

* “Lynchburg-area woman turns 108: ‘Everybody I meet makes me happy’” –The News & Advance, 14 August 2020

* “Local woman celebrates 109th birthday with family, friends” – The News & Advance, 14 August 2021

* “Virginia D. Jefferson” – Community Funeral Home

GALLERY