Virginia Brooking Coggins

Virginia Brooking Coggins

Virginia Brooking Coggins, 81, of Bennettsville, South Carolina, died Monday, September 14, 2009, at Cheraw Healthcare.

She was born in Greene County, Virginia, the daughter of the late John and Mary Douglass Brooking.

She was a member of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Somerset, Virginia, and attended Bethel United Methodist Church in Bennettsville, South Carolina.

Prior to her marriage in 1957, Mrs. Coggins was a teacher in West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, and taught at all levels from grade school to college. A devout Christian and devoted parent, she served as a choir director for several churches that she and her husband attended, and was an active organizational participant in the various school and extra-curricular activities of her children.

Mrs. Coggins was a founder of the Bedford County, Virginia, Association for Retarded Children, and was the author and illustrator of cookbooks for this and many other charitable groups.

"Ms. Jenny" owned and operated Jenny's Modern Bride in Cheraw for 20 years.

She was preceded in death by a daughter, Belinthia and is survived by her husband, Carlos Coggins of Bennettsville, South Carolina; two sons, Barth Coggins of Latta, South Carolina and Bayard Coggins of Eldorado, North Carolina; two daughters, Bianca Norton of Blacksburg, Virginia, and Berinthia Allison of Clemson, South Carolina. Also surviving are two brothers, John Peyton Brooking and Keesee Brooking, both of Greene County, Virginia; one sister, Thyrza McCauley of Earlysville, Virginia, six grandchildren and a great- grandchild.

A celebration of her life will be held at Bethel United Methodist Church, 10 a.m. Saturday, October 3, 2009.

Burial services will be held 1 p.m. Sunday, October 4, 2009, at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Barboursville, Virginia.

Memorials may be made to Bethel United Methodist Church, c/o Barbara Leviner, 3624 Rocky Ridge Road, Wallace, SC 29596.

The family would like to thank the staff of Cheraw Healthcare for the loving care given to their wife and mother during her illness.

Norton Funeral Home of Cheraw is serving the family of Mrs. Coggins.


This obituary was originally published in the Daily Progress.