Virginia E. Russell, 87

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. - Virginia Edwards Russell (nee Virginia Morris Edwards), of Kennett Square, died Sunday, Oct. 19, 2008, in the Kendal at Longwood Retirement community. She was 87. She was the wife of the late Walter Stokes Russell, who died in 1966, and with whom she shared 22 years of marriage. Born in Birmingham, Ala., she was a daughter of the late Charles Louis Taylor Edwards and Aveline Flagg Edwards (nee Aveline Ingersoll Flagg). She attended Beaver College and graduated from Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania in 1941, with a degree in French. Following graduation from Moravian, Va., she graduated from Washington School for Secretaries and worked on Capitol Hill for Representative Thomas E. Dewey. Later, she wrote professionally for National Aeronautics magazine during which time her contributions includes a brief history of heavier-than-air flight prior to the Wright Brothers and a report of the first public unveiling of the Lockheed P-80 shooting star. As a volunteer she also edited The Tee Leaf, the newsletter of the Ridgewood Country Club, in Paramus, New Jersey. She was a sometime member of Camden Friends Meeting in Camden, Del. Survivors include one daughter, Lynn Butcher (nee Lynn Flagg Russell) and her husband Robert Miller Butcher of East Aurora, N.Y.; one son, John Masters Russell and his wife Marilyn (nee Marilyn Gail Lazenby) of Keller, Texas; and five grandchildren, Constance Flagg, Julia Todd, and Thomas Payson Stokes Butcher (the children of Robert and Lynn) and Grace Elizabeth and Stuart Stokes Russell (the children of John and Marilyn). A Quaker memorial meeting will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 8, 2008, in the Auditorium, Kendal at Longwood, Kennett Square PA 19348. Burial was held privately. Arrangements are being handled by the Kuzo and Grieco Funeral Home Inc. of Kennett Square. To send an online condolence, please visit www.griecofuneralhomes.com.