Viola Jarrett Wilkes fell asleep in Jesus on April 30, 2021. She was ninety-five years of age. She was the third child of eight born to Dossie Jarrett and Rosa Alice Lee Jarrett in Greensville County Virginia. Viola grew up happy, despite the fact that her early years were during the Great Depression.
Her formal education began at the Greensville County Training School and continued at Huntington High School in Newport News, Virginia. She later moved to Washington D.C. where she attended the Armstrong Education Center.
Viola grew up praising the Lord at Antioch and Shiloh Baptist Churches in Skippers, Virginia. Later, she attended Macedonia and First Baptist Churches in Newport News. While working in Washington D.C., she attended a series of evangelistic meetings at the First Seventh-day Adventist Church in 1968, which led to her conversion to Seventh-day Adventism. Viola served as an usher, community Services Team Member and as part of the outreach team that established the Bladensburg SDA Church in Maryland. She served at the Bladensburg Seventh-day Adventist Church until returning to Hampton in 1980. Here she united with the Calvary Seventh-day Adventist Church where she remained active as a Deaconess and Deaconess Director until her health failed.
By observing her Aunt Ola and others, she learned to sew at an early age – making her own clothes. Her love of sewing and her life work as a seamstress grew from these humble beginnings. This skill-set served her well as she created custom clothing, upholstery, drapery, bedding, etc. She owned businesses in Washington D.C. and in the Hampton Roads area. In Washington D.C., Viola briefly worked for the Social Security Administration and after retiring, she worked at the Calvary Seventh-day Adventist Church Early Childhood Center. A lover of children, and with a quiet, calm and kind demeanor, it has been observed that she was often able to bring a calm to her students that amazed onlookers. She and her husband, an upholstery mechanic, continued to work their trades well into retirement.
Viola was preceded in death by her husband of sixty-seven (67) years, Charlie Alexander “Alex” Wilkes; her siblings and their spouses, Paul Jarrett (Minnie), Mamie G. Munford (Frank), Flennard Jarrett (Rosalee), Samuel, Dorothy Mae Nicholson (Linwood), Mary Alice Jarrett-Minor and Clifton Jarrett. Additionally, her granddaughters, Kimberly Arrington and Schell L. Gibson-Craig, daughter-in-law Billie Anderson Wilkes and sons-in-law Wesley A. Gibson and James "Jimmy" B. McRae preceded her in death.
Among those remaining to celebrate her life are her children Roslyn C. W. McRae Gibson, Charlie Alexander Wilkes, III (Gail), Angela Sherelle W. Miller (Donald) and Reginald L. Wilkes. Viola has 12 grandchildren, 19 great grandchildren, 5 great-great grandchildren, Yvonne Arrington and a host of nieces, nephews, cousins, other relatives, friends and church family.
A funeral service will be held at 12:00 PM on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at Peninsula Seventh Day Adventist Spanish Church, 682 79th St, Newport News, VA, 23605. The family will be receive friends from 10:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. prior to the service. Burial will follow at Albert G. Horton Jr. Memorial Veterans Cemetery, 5310 Milners Rd, Suffolk, VA, 23434.
Friends are encouraged to visit www.parklawn-woodfh.com to share memories and offer words of condolence.
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