Jessie Hanby Key

KEY, Jessie Hanby, 91, of Martinsville and formerly of Stuart, died Thursday, October 9, 2008. She was licensed as a nursing home administrator in Virginia by the American College of Nursing Home Administrators and had been a member of Virginia Health Care Association since early 1961. She and her husband, Clarence L. Key Sr. established Blue Ridge Nursing Home, Inc. in Stuart where Mrs. Key was administrator until 1981. She also served as Chairman of the 1966 Virginia Health Care Association convention. She was the recipient of "Administrator of the Year" award in 1972 from Virginia Health Care Association; a past member of Virginia Commission on mental, indigent and geriatric patients; a member of Board of Directors of Health System Agency of Southwest Virginia; a member of the 1980 White House Conference on Aging and a member of the Board of Trustees of United Methodist Churches. She was listed in "Who's Who in Personalities of the South." She was preceded in death by her husband, Clarence L. Key Sr. in 1963; three sisters, Edith Via, Emma Williams and Frances Carter. Survivors include a daughter and son-in-law, Katherine K. "Katie" and Jim Connelly of Collinsville; a son and daughter-in-law, Clarence Lester Jr. and Brooke Key of Powhatan; two sisters and a brother-in-law, Mary Lou Elkins of Harrisonburg, Annie Lee and Raymond D. Ferrell of Martinsville; four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Funeral services will be held Sunday, October 12, 2008 at 2 p.m. at First United Methodist Church in Martinsville. Interment will follow in Roselawn Burial Park. The family will receive friends Saturday from 5 to 7 p.m. at Collins-McKee-Stone Funeral Home, Martinsville Chapel. Memorials may be made to the Jessie H. Key Memorial Scholarship Fund, PHCC Foundation, P.O. Box 5311, Martinsville, Va. 24115. For online condolences, please visit www.collinsmckeestone.com.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.