Ethel Virginia Tinsley Toler

Mrs. Ethel Virginia Tinsley Toler made her transition at Kings Grant Nursing Home in Martinsville, Virginia at age 88, Friday, January 29th, 2010, after a long series of illnesses. Mrs. Toler was born in Franklin County, December 18, 1921 of parents Will and Mary Alice Tinsley of Rocky Mount, Virginia, parents of twelve children.

Ethel moved to West Virginia at age 13 at the time of her father’s untimely death to live with a relative. Always competitive and ambitious she ultimately worked her way through high school and attended Bluefield State Teachers College on scholarship. Her first assignment was a one room school house in Franklin County which required her to teach grades 1 through 12 simultaneously.

These initial teaching experiences were the first steps on the road to her becoming a “Master Teacher” in California. Many students who were mislabeled as non-learners went on to be outstanding citizens nationally in many professions due to her persistence, dedication, expertise and advocacy. She consistently outperformed her peers in California raising student achievement levels on standardized national tests. She took great pride in her ability to “turn students around” when others had given up hope.

Mrs. Toler was also one of the original Tuskegee Airman’s wives. Along with her late husband, Major Alfonso Toler, she blazed trails and broke down barriers when discrimination was rampant. In Mountain Home Idaho people asked her children if they had “tails” and in Atwater California she had to pull out a rifle when neighbors threw a bomb on her front porch. Through it all she impressed upon her children the need to achieve despite any obstacles.

Mrs. Toler was preceded in death by her parents, Will and Mary Tinsley; her husband, Alfonso C. Toler; her son, Alfonso Christopher Toler II; brothers, Robert, Frank, Sam, Irvin, Giles, James and Gilmore Tinsley; and three sisters, Nannie Brown, Dorothy Price and Geneva Scott.

She leaves behind to honor her discipline, sacrifice, memory and achievements, one sister, Lula Williams of Brooklyn New York; two daughters, Tanya Jones MD of New Mexico, and Sheila Renee Toler Ph.D. of California; grandson, Justin Jones C.P.A. M.A. and his wife Nicole Jones JD; grandson, Brandon Jones C.E.O. Gridlock Entertainment and great grandchildren, Khyri, Maseo, Raphael and Kaiya all of Atlanta. Also mourning are numerous friends, nieces, nephews, cousins in Virginia, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., New York, Maryland, Alaska and Michigan.

Viewing will be held from 11:30 to noon Monday, February 8, 2010, Trinity Missionary Baptist Church in Rocky Mount, Virginia with service to follow at noon. Interment will be at the Tinsley Family Burial grounds in Rocky Mount.

Funeral arrangements are being handled by Collins Funeral Home Basset Virginia