Patty Moncure Drewry

DREWRY, Patty Moncure, widow of Thomas Watkins Drewry, died peacefully at home on January 18, 2009. The younger daughter of the late William Augustus Moncure and Margaret Tinsley Moncure, Mrs. Drewry was born in Richmond in 1917. She grew up at the family home "Picquenocque" in Henrico County, as part of an exceptionally close-knit extended family, to which she was devoted. She was graduated from Collegiate School and attended Sweetbriar College. Mrs. Drewry worked at the Richmond News Leader for several years and served as a volunteer nurse's aid at the Medical College of Virginia during World War II. After their marriage in 1949, she and her husband lived briefly in Martinsville before moving to Williamsburg, where they raised their children at "Charlton House" in the Historic Area until his death in 1969, after which she made her home in Richmond. A member of Richmond's Second Presbyterian Church and a former member of the Williamsburg Presbyterian Church, Mrs. Drewry lived out the spirit of her faith and supported the Church's missions in a myriad of ways each day. Like her mother and her husband, she always quietly found ways to help others, both through organizations such as Meals on Wheels (for which she served as a longtime driver) and through generous individual acts of thoughtful kindness. Mrs. Drewry pursued her interests in historic preservation through active membership in the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities and several Virginia county historical societies. She loved to garden, was a prize-winning flower arranger and was long involved in the Garden Club of Virginia. She was also a member of The Woman's Club, the Colonial Dames, the Country Club of Virginia and a former member of the Quarry Club and the Tuckahoe Woman's Club. The last, and longest, surviving of the seven Moncure children, Mrs. Drewry was preceded in death by her sister, Margaret Moncure Johnson; and their brothers, William Augustus Moncure Jr., Thomas Rutherfoord Moncure, James Garland Tinsley Moncure, Eustace Conway Moncure and John Moncure. She is survived by her son, William Sidney Drewry II of Williamsburg; her daughter and son-in-law, Virginia Watkins Drewry and Howard Curtiss Martin, of Alexandria; her granddaughter, Abigail Tinsley Moncure Martin of Alexandria and Williamstown, Massachusetts; two sisters-in-law, Julia Jones Moncure and Mary Cox Moncure, both of Richmond; the rest of the extended Moncure and Tinsley connection, including a host of nieces and nephews and their families and many friends. A memorial service will be held at 4 p.m. on Thursday, January 22, at Westminster Canterbury, 1600 Westbrook Avenue, Richmond. The interment will be at 10 a.m. on Friday, January 23, at Hollywood Cemetery, 412 South Cherry Street, Richmond. After the interment, Mrs. Drewry's life will be celebrated at an 11 a.m. memorial service at Second Presbyterian Church, 5 North Fifth Street (between Franklin and Main Streets), Richmond. A reception will follow the church service. Mrs. Drewry's family asks that those who loved her honor her memory by continuing to give of themselves to others. Those wishing to make a memorial contribution in lieu of flowers, might contribute to the Thomas Watkins Drewry and Patty Moncure Drewry Scholarship Fund at the Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Department, 100 Randolph Hall, Blacksburg, Va. 24061, or a charity of their choice.
This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.