Virginia Christina McMahan

In her youth, Virginia attended St. Genevie of the Pines, an international boarding school for girls administered by French nuns in Asheville, NC. Later she graduated from Sacred Heart Junior College and academy in Belmont NC, then on to Bristol Business College.

In 1957 Virginia also known as “Gigi” married Thomas H. McMahan at “Old St Mary’s” church in Alexandria, VA. Thomas was a WWII and Korean war veteran to whom she is preceded in death since 2008. As a devoted wife, and loving mother, she grew to become grandmother, then great-grandmother and was often deemed as “matriarch” of the family. Kind and generous to those less fortunate, she was often feisty and determined yet carried true southern charm in “lady-like fashion”. She was truly one of a kind.

Raised by artistic parents, Elizabeth and Eugene Thomason, she developed her own talent and love for the arts, especially in painting, illustration and writing. Throughout the years of her life, Virginia painted a collection of oil paintings with scenes ranging from the mountains to the coast in North and South Carolina. In the 1980’s she wrote and illustrated 2 children’s books titled “Where the Mushgnomes Live” and “The Silver Bell” which she later published in 2010. She had a green thumb and love of gardening especially in the springtime when new things would come to life.

As an avid reader and entertaining storyteller Virginia also loved her Ancestral, Church and World history and became a source of wealth

and knowledge. Always grateful to her relatives and lifetime friends she made throughout the years, she had a special love for God and her Catholic faith.

Virginia is survived by 6 sons and 2 daughters, a plethora of grandchildren and several great-grandchildren. She will be deeply missed but not forgotten.