Violet Waterman Wilcox

Violet W. Wilcox, 89, of Henrico County, died Sunday, May 12, 2013. She was preceded in death by her brother, Vernon Waterman. She is survived by four children, Sallyann Poates, Catherine Foster, Bill Wilcox and Nancy Beck; nine grandchildren; five great-grandchildren; a sister, Martha Hamilton; and a niece, Laura Henson.

Mrs. Wilcox was a member of Aldersgate United Methodist Church where she sang in the choir. She was a lifelong seamstress; a published poet; and a volunteer with the Red Cross crocheting for veterans and newborns.

The family will receive friends 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday and Wednesday at the Atlee Chapel, Woody Funeral Home, 9271 Shady Grove Rd., Mechanicsville, where services will be conducted 11 a.m. Thursday. Interment Forest Lawn Cemetery.

Biography of Violet W. Wilcox

Violet W. Wilcox, nee Waterman, was born on Halloween, October 31, 1923 in Henrico County, Virginia. She learned to sew on a treadle sewing machine at age three at the feet of her mother, Flora Waterman. She loved animals, especially cats, reading, puzzles, and growing beautiful flowers in her gardens. She attended Highland Springs High School and was educated at the Washington School of Art, receiving her diploma in 1948. She worked as a seamstress for Thalhimers Department Store in Richmond for eleven years before marrying Richard Wilcox and starting a family by giving birth on Christmas day to the first of four children. She had a baby every December for three years and then the fourth child, the third daughter, came in June after a breather of two and a half years.

Violet helped to support her family by taking in sewing for customers and helping her sister, Martha Hamilton, create costumes for the Richmond Ballet and other theatrical productions. She made clothes for herself, her husband and her children. She started writing poetry in high school and since 1948 has had more than 1,122 poems in print, winning numerous awards along the way.

Mrs. Wilcox applied her drawing skills to many publications and school and church functions. She enjoyed square dancing with her husband in organized clubs, the Western Twirlers and the Cloverleafs. She led the GSA Brownie Troop at her church, Aldersgate UMC, where she was a member for many years. She also served God by teaching her Sunday School class, singing in the choir, serving in the United Methodist Women, signing for the deaf, and visiting shut-ins, often with her young children in tow. She never learned to drive a car and walked everywhere if she couldn’t “bum a ride”.

Violet taught herself to crochet and no one of her acquaintance lacked a gift of her creations in yarn, including afghans, doll dresses, baby clothes and blankets, ornaments and home decorations of every kind. She also shared her talent by crocheting caps and lap robes distributed to hospitals and veterans by the Red Cross.

After her divorce, she returned to working as a seamstress at Hub Uniform Company until she retired in 1990. Meanwhile, she continued to write and self-published her poems in booklets which she gave away to friends, families and even strangers. She learned calligraphy so she could write her poems in style. Mrs. Wilcox responded to a call for letter writing to our soldiers in Afghanistan, recruiting family and friends to help gather donations to send to the troops, and found a deep and lasting friendship with Sergeant Ben Kramer whom she finally met in person when he came home to Virginia.

Violet’s move to Saint Francis Home in 2006, facilitated by the need for assistance at home, still found her crocheting for everyone she met, teaching drawing, crochet and writing classes to her fellow residents, and writing even more poems, especially for SMILE Magazine where she was a regular contributor.

Mrs. Wilcox was always kind and thoughtful; always giving of herself and whatever she could share with anyone “who needs it more than I do”. She possessed great artistic talents which she passed on to all four of her children and was a great lady who departed from this life on May 12, 2013, where she will be sorely missed, but has found peace and everlasting joy in her new life with her Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.