Virginia Lightner Burnett

Virginia Lightner Burnett passed away in peace in Houston, Texas. Virginia was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. She graduated from Columbia College in Columbia, Missouri and attended Central Academy in Cincinnati, Ohio. She met her husband, Erwin, a Texas Aggie at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton. Erwin and Virginia lived together in Dallas, Galveston and Houston. Virginia was an award winning oil painter and a wonderful pianist. She was a member of the Texas Visual Art Association as well as the Galveston Art League. One of her many awards included a one person show at Branigan Cultural Center in Las Cruces, New Mexico, 1990. Virginia studied painting with instructors, Roger Winter, James Stover and Ann Cushing Gantz in Dallas, Texas. Her art is privately owned from coast to coast. She was a wonderful wife, mother and grandmother. She was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Erwin Farquhar Burnett and her sister Barbara Irelan of Dayton, Ohio. She will be missed by her son Robert Burnett and his wife Dayna; daughter Barbara Cushman and her husband Dan; daughter Beverly Lawson and her husband Tom; granddaughters Lauren Hixon and her husband Tom and Carolyn Burnett; grandson William Bentley and his wife Kelly; grandson Robert Lawson; and great-grandsons Jack, Ryan, Tommy and Charlie Bentley.

The family would like to express their heartfelt thanks for the many years of loving care provided by Bayou Manor Nursing Home.

A private interment will be held in Dallas at a later date at Grove Hill Memorial Park where she will be laid to rest next to her husband. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association.