Virginia Elizabeth Bodley Mathison

Virginia Elizabeth Bodley Mathison was born April 4, 1949, and made this world a better place for family and friends for nearly 77 years. Born in Chattanooga to James and Virginia Bodley, she was the sister to three brothers, Jim, John, and Tim, and spent their childhood in Tennessee, South Carolina, and Alabama playing, trekking, and adventuring as a motley crew of PKs (preacher’s kids). The stories she shared of her parents and childhood with her brothers were always delighting in good mischief and a whole helluva a lot of love.

After graduating from Decatur High School, she matriculated to Huntingdon College in Montgomery, where she soon met a young, strapping man by the name of Bob Mathison, the PK of a Methodist minister. Her tenacity for playing the organ, piano, and studies in biology were stories often shared as Bob and Virginia reflected on their time together in college. Virginia’s parents and brothers warmly welcomed Bob into the family, and in June of 1971 they were married.

Virginia and Bob spent their 20s living in Pensacola, Florida and in Durham, North Carolina at Duke University, being the best dog parents anyone could be. They eventually settled back in Northwest Florida, where they welcomed their daughter, Mary Alice, in the fall of 1984. Virginia worked at Episcopal Day School in the aftercare program from the fall of 1990 until the spring of 2019. She also had what we would call a side hustle these days, running her own cleaning business for nearly 30 years as well. No matter the work she did, she always brought with her a work ethic centered on commitment and care for others. She especially loved watching the kids at EDS grow up, come back and visit, and eventually start sending their own kids to the school. Her co-workers over the years were some of the kindest and dearest colleagues that she called friends.

Part of why she chose the work she did, is that it allowed her the opportunities to be the best mother and wife she hoped she could be. When she wasn’t supporting Mary Alice in every extracurricular activity known to humankind, she was helping to be a care giver for Bob’s parents, Bobbie and Paul Mathison. The loved she extended to them shaped her daughter in ways she could never imagine.

She was always the best cheerleader for her family and friends, and the people they loved. She was a swim-gymnastics-ballet-running mom for the longest time, traveling around the Southeast and even California, instilling the travel bug in her daughter, even though she would blame her brothers Jimmy and Tim for that. She diligently tried to share her love of yard work and cooking with daughter, but it never quite stuck. She’d get so nervous during Mary Alice’s sporting events she often was found in the concession stand serving up some of her famous brownies, and she was always making sure teammates had rides home and to practice. Virginia and Bob loved their road trips together to Sewanee to see Mary Alice, and eventually would do roadtrips to South Carolina and DC to visit there, but were grateful when their daughter moved back to the Gulf Coast and they got to explore Daphne, Fairhope, Panama City Beach, and most recently Mobile.

Virginia was a lifelong Episcopalian, and called Christ Church Parish in Pensacola home for the last 40 years or so. However, her proxy to Episcopal priest relatives has meant several different parishes in the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast have shaped her faith and ministry. Especially the last 12 years, if Mary Alice needed help at any of the churches in which she served, Virginia would find a way to pitch in behind the scenes or somewhere on the front line. It was most appreciated when Virginia would share in Sunset Church or Prayers in the Park, comment during online worship services when Covid first started, and offered encouragement on sermons.

In the last 10 years Virginia experienced several health set backs, in particular being diagnosed with Parkinson’s in 2018. While it eventually hindered her physically, it never quelled her sense of humor and joy of the small things like love of dogs and cats, reading the news, and watching her favorite, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

Friends, colleagues, students, and family have recounted her laugh and smile were contagious. Even as Parkinson’s challenged her these last couple of years, she never lost the twinkle in her eye that suggested she had a funny joke or mischievous thought she might want to share. Even in the last week of her life, that twinkle was steadfast as she entertained nurses and visitors at Mobile Infirmary, up until she entered her eternal hope with God, on January 25, 2026.

She was proceeded in death by her parents James and Virginia Bodley and in-laws Bobbie and Paul Mathison. She leaves behind so many people who love her, especially her husband of nearly 55 years, Bob Mathison, her daughter, Mary Alice, brothers Jim Bodley (Sally), Tim Bodley, John Bodley (Mary Jean), nephew, Jezreel Bodley, niece, Jacqueline Bodley, and friends who became family, Ashley McGowan (Michael and Essie Webster).

We are especially grateful to the medical teams on the 4th Floor and SICU at Mobile Infirmary, and our friends at Soul Caffeine, Episcopal Church of the Redeemer, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and School, Episcopal Day School, Christ Church Parish, and the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Christ Church Parish in Pensacola, FL, on Tuesday, February 3, 2025, at 11:00am, with reception to follow.

There are a few different ways you can celebrate and remember Virginia—In lieu of flowers please consider donating to one of the following: the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Episcopal Day School in Pensacola, FL, or the Bishop’s Discretionary Account at the Diocese of the Central Gulf Coast. And even if you can’t donate, make sure you tell others, “Love you more,” just like Virginia would tell us. Condolences may be offered at www.radneyfuneralhome-mobile.com.