On December 7, 2018, Virginia Lee Brothers Cora died peacefully at her home on Swan Lake from ovarian cancer. She was born 14 September 1939 in San Antonio, TX to Clyde L. Brothers, a physician, and Alma Opper Brothers, a nurse, and her brother, Clyde L. Brothers, Jr. Raised in the military, the family was stationed in TX, FL, MD, NY, HI, Tokyo, and finally IL where she graduated from Freeburg High School in 1957. Cora earned a BSN in 1961 and a MN in 1972 from UM School of Nursing, Jackson, a DSN in 1985 from UAB, Birmingham, and a MSN in 1988 from MUW in Columbus. Her clinical practice and teaching were primarily in geriatric medicine and geriatric psychiatry; she retired in 2010. She served as President of the Gerontological Advanced Practice Nurses Association and was a Fellow in the American Association of Nurse Practitioners and was Professor Emeritus in Nursing at UMSON.
Spiro Pete Cora, a restauranteur and social studies teacher, and Virginia Lee were married in 1961 and were blessed with 3 beautiful children, 11 grandchildren, and 1 great grandchild, Michael (Carrie; Nicholas, Andrew, & Anna), Catherine (Nicole Ehrlich; Zoran, Caje, Thatcher, Nash, Jonas Ehrlich, and Gavin Ehrlich), Christopher (Jennifer Ann; Morgan and great grandchild Holden, Lexi, Paxton, & Hallie) Cora. The family was active members of the Holy Trinity & St. John Greek Orthodox Church in Jackson and enjoyed team sports and community and outdoor activities – camping, birding, and water sports. They had many wonderful friends, colleagues, and neighbors, including the Sistahs and Brodahs of the Flowing Water. Virginia especially enjoyed music, literature, theater, gardening, and volunteering to help serve our beautiful Jackson, MS community.
Funeral services will be held Tuesday, December 11, 2018 at 10:00 am at Holy Trinity – St. John the Theologian, led by Rev. Protopresbyter Andrew Koufopoulos. Visitation will be held Monday, December 10, 2018 from 5:00-8:00 pm at Parkway Funeral Home, another brief visitation will be held immediately before the service at 9:00 am. Honorary pallbearers include Lambryne/Angela Angelo, Barbara Boss, Linda Brewer, Peter J./Maria Costas, Tereza Holman, Ellen Hontzas, Jim Johnson, Florine Keeler, Sue Lawrence, Chuck Odom, Bill/Jan Patrick, Monique Polles, Barbara Rogers, Sandra West, and Walter Youngblood. Active pallbearers are Pete Cora, Hank Holmes, Tom Holman, Stamati Polles, John Rogers, and Steve West. In lieu of flowers, please consider donations to the UMSON Brothers/Cora Nursing Scholarship Fund, The MS Nurses Foundation, Holy Trinity/St. John Orthodox Church, or MS Public Broadcasting Foundation.
The family would like to extend a special Thank You to all of the home health providers who lovingly cared for Virginia during her illness.
