Funeral services with full Military Rites, for George Lynn Virden, 82, of Leland will be at 2:00 p.m., Wednesday, November 30 at St. James Episcopal Church in Greenville. He died Sunday, November 27 at his home in Leland . Burial will be in Greenville Cemetery under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Leland.
Mr. Virden was born on October 19, 1934 in Greenville, MS, son of the late Huron Virden and Doris Metcalfe Virden of Greenville. He attended school in Greenville through the ninth grade and finished high school at Culver Military Academy in Culver, IN. He attended Tulane University joining the Army ROTC and graduated in 1952 with a BBA and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. Mr. Virden married Martha Fullan Hawkins in Birmingham, AL in 1955 and they returned to Greenville in 1957 and he was transferred to the Army Reserve. In 1958 he joined Battery A of the 114th Artillery Battalion in the National Guard. He served in the Guard for the next 26 years retiring with the rank of Colonel.
In 1959 Mr. Virden moved his family to Leland and became president of M.L. Virden Lumber Company until its closing in 1989. The company was responsible for creating several residential subdivisions in Leland and Hollandale as well as some commercial properties. After his retirement he continued as a computer consultant for lumber management throughout the South including Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Missouri, Mississippi and Arkansas. From 1991 to 2012 he was office manager and accountant for Greenville Metal Works and Green Steel Shop in Greenville.
Mr. Virden was active in civic affairs and served as past president of the Leland Chamber of Commerce and the Greenville Home Builders Association. He also served as an alderman in the City of Leland from 1973 until 1977. He served on the Board of Directors of the Mississippi National Guard Association; was member of the Deer Creek Town and Racquet Club; a member of the St. John’s Episcopal Church in Leland and a member of the Civil Air Patrol, holding a commercial pilot’s license.
He is survived by his wife of 61 years, Martha Hawkins Virden; 2 daughters, Lysbeth V. Hargrove and Amy Virden; sister, Doris Murphy; grandson, Virden Hargrove (Elle); and 2 great grandchildren, Christian and Jackson Hargrove.
There will be a visitation one hour prior to services at the church.