Funeral services for Virginia Anne Grissom Gordon, 74, of Leland will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, June 25 at the Leland United Methodist Church. She died on Monday, June 21, at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson. A visitation will be held one hour before services at the church. Burial will follow in the Leland-Stoneville Cemetery under the direction of Boone Funeral Home, Leland.
Virginia was born on August 27, 1946, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Perrin H. Grissom, Sr. of Leland, both of whom predeceased her.
She was a 1964 graduate of Leland High School, where she was involved in many activities including the tennis team and as a drum majorette for the LHS Band. She graduated with a B.A. degree in English in 1968 from Mississippi State College for Women in Columbus (MUW). She worked as a reporter and photographer for the George County Times newspaper in Lucedale for two years before joining the staff of The Clarion-Ledger in Jackson as assistant state editor. She also worked at UMMC as a young photographer.
Virginia became associate editor of The Leland Progress in 1978 and held that position until the newspaper was sold in 1990. While in Leland, she was active in the Leland United Methodist Church. She also worked at the USDA Agricultural Research Station in Stoneville and was manager of Little Bales of Cotton in Leland.
While living in the Jackson area, Virginia taught adult literacy and GED classes at the Jackson Enterprise Institute. She then returned to work at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in the office of the comptroller and finance. She attended Christ United Methodist Church where she sang in the choir and then Ole Town Community Church.
After retirement, she moved back to Leland where she was a member of the Leland-Deer Creek Garden Club, DAR, and the Leland United Methodist Church. She served as the church organist until she became ill.
Virginia is survived by one daughter, Luci Gordon Henry of Olive Branch and her husband, Dr. Brian Henry, and four grandsons, Bronson, Logan, Nicholas, and Hayes, along with one sister, Linda (Nonnie) Wright and her husband, Butch, of Canton, and one brother, Perrin H. Grissom, Jr. and his wife, Donna, of Leland, as well as many sweet friends and family members.