Virginia Gilbert Maxwell

Virginia Gilbert Maxwell Virginia Gilbert Maxwell, 91, passed away Saturday, the 2nd of October, at her daughter Madeline's home in Austin, Texas. Mrs. Maxwell was born in Marion, Ohio, to Paul and Ruth Gilbert. "Anything you can see and enjoy can be translated into a handsome needlepoint design." That was Virginia Maxwell's theory of a lifetime, and she had the talent and skills to live it. From teaching at the YWCA in the late 1950s to judging art shows and exhibiting her work in far-flung corners of the globe in the 1970s - and recognition by House Beautiful Magazine in 1974 - to designs for churches and synagogues from Houston to the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. "...Virginia Maxwell, Houston hostess who is nationally famous for her breathtaking needlework pieces, decorative hangings and needlepoint translations of works of art. And for Thanksgiving, Virginia has captured America's gracious heritage in a table setting for a brunch party of impeccable good taste," wrote Houston Post editor Ann Valentine, as just one of many feature stories on Virginia's art, business and entertaining. After a successful career as a buyer of needlework and Christmas decorations at the original Foley's store downtown, Mrs. Maxwell opened Virginia Maxwell Custom Needlework Studio in the River Oaks Shopping Center. The enterprise was an immediate success and soon moved to larger quarters on Kirby Drive, where 20 employees, plus 15 to 20 artists were kept busy designing and finishing Houston's needlepoint and embroidery. In addition to providing designs for pillows for homes all over Houston, Mrs. Maxwell designed shoes, game tables, a cover for an industrial journal, the centerpiece for an apartment brochure, headboards, chairs, shoes, belts, vests, pictures, a piano bench for Joni Mitchell - anything she could put needlepoint on anywhere. The American and International Needlepoint Guild chose Virginia to design a 14' by 20' needlepoint Peace Rug to commemorate the 1976 Bicentennial. Each square represented one of the 132 then-member countries of the United Nations. Mrs. Maxwell lectured on the project across the country. The Smithsonian asked to add the rug to their collection. Mrs. Maxwell was a guest of the State of Israel for a tour of their museum displays of needlework in 1973. She toured Europe several times with Massachusetts designer and friend Elsa Williams, ferreting out other designers and practitioners of needle arts for their businesses. She also took classes at the Royal School of Needlework in England. Mrs. Maxwell is known for her knowledge, design flair and sense of color. She was equally adept at traditional reproductions of works of art, modern abstract designs, and bargello (zigzag stitches). She was the go-to designer for birds and wildflowers, where her sense of color and detail produced stunningly detailed works of art. If you wanted something unusual and beautiful, you went to her. Her scholarly research and wonderful design abilities led Mrs. Maxwell to large religious projects. She designed ecclesiastical projects for Beth Yeshuran synagogue, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Lon Morris College, Sacred Heart Co-Cathedral, St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Eagle Lake Episcopal Church, Church of the Good Shepherd, Emerson Unitarian Church, Memorial Lutheran Church, Temple Emanu-El in Dallas, Calvary Episcopal Church in Richmond, a convent school in England, and churches in California, Alabama, Florida, and Ohio. Mrs. Maxwell also touched the lives of many first grade children when she taught at Immanuel Lutheran School in the Heights, Houston, in the 1950s and countless Houstonians whom she taught to play bridge or to make candles or copper trays and countless other crafts through the YWCA. She is survived by her children, Paul Maxwell of Breckenridge, Colorado and his wife, Evie Haskell; Madeline Maxwell, a Professor at the University of Texas at Austin; John Maxwell of Spring and his wife Linda; and her grand-daughter Cody Maxwell of Denver, Colorado. She and her late husband John Walter Maxwell, who pre-deceased her two years ago, will be very much missed. A funeral service is to be conducted at two o'clock in the afternoon on Thursday, the 7th of October, in the chapel of the Memorial Mission Mausoleum of Forest Park Westheimer Cemetery, 12800 Westheimer Road in Houston, where Rev. Geo. Aurich is to officiate. Services in Houston are with Geo. H. Lewis & Sons - The Funeral Directors since 1936, 713.789.3005, www.geohlewis.com