Services for Mrs. Virginia Hastings Atherton will be held Friday, June 14, 2019, at 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Brookhaven. There will be a visitation from 9 a.m. until the time of the service. Rev. Greg Warnock will officiate and interment will follow in Easthaven Cemetery.

Virginia Hastings Atherton, 93, went to be with Jesus on June 9, 2019, at Hospice Ministries in Ridgeland, Mississippi, after suffering a stroke.

She was born on Jan. 10, 1926, in Pine Bluff, Arkansas. After graduating from El Dorado High School, she attended Central College in Conway, Arkansas, where she was president of the student body, a  member of Delta Beta Sigma, Delta Psi Omega National Honor Society and Zeta Phi. Her home has been  Brookhaven, Mississippi, for the past 70 years.

Virginia demonstrated her love of Christ through a gift of service and compassion. She was a dedicated member of First Baptist Church of Brookhaven and taught Sunday School for 65 years, served on various leadership committees, helped with Vacation Bible School, regularly visited friends and fellow church members at local nursing homes and hospitals, and also participated in numerous other church-related projects. During Upward Basketball she could be found working in the concession stand. In the community, she served with Meals-on-Wheels and was active with Habitat for Humanity. After her retirement, she took an active role in the Institute for Learning in Retirement at Copiah-Lincoln Community College. She loved to learn and to travel. She understood that travel is not about a destination, but it is about the people on the journey. She kept a bag packed waiting on friends or family to provide the itinerary.

Virginia was always loving and supportive of her family. She framed and displayed “art” in her house, weathered the storms of countless athletic events, an survived many recitals all to show how much she loved her family.

She is survived by her three children, Perry E. Atherton, Jr. (Patsy),  Jo Atherton Fairburn (Bobby) and Judy Atherton Cleveland (Lance); three grandchildren, Katherine Alford (Charles), Leslie Beaton (Jeff) and Myles Atherton (Melissa); and three great-grandchildren, Eli Beaton (Juliana), Perrie Michelle Beaton and Natalie Beaton. 

She was preceded in death by her husband, Perry E. Atherton, Sr.; her parents, Charles and Clara Hastings; a sister, Julia Jo Burris; and a brother, John Charles Hastings.

In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that a memorial gift be given to the Baptist Children’s Village at P.O. Box 27, Clinton, Mississippi 39060 or First Baptist Church Brookhaven at 200 E Monticello St., Brookhaven, MS 39601 in her memory.

Condolences and other information are available online at www.riverwoodfamily.com.