Blanche "Virginia" Dameron

Blanche Virginia Dameron passed away peacefully on April 2nd, 2025, at 101 years of age. Virginia (or Ginny; as she was often known) was born to Susie Blanche Cook and Johannas Christian Rasmussen in Arlington, VA on October 20, 1923. Growing up in Arlington at that time was a rural experience with an easy pace. She went to school, learned from her mother how to cook and sew, and enjoyed playing outside with her siblings. One afternoon in 1940, she met Warren Carrington Dameron, a lanky young farmer from Callao, Virginia while she was jumping rope with a friend. Even after what proved to be a concerning first date (where Virginia had to hitchhike with Warren and a group of friends along a dirt road that would later become the Baltimore Washington Parkway), she fell in love. What became known as a perfect example of her tenacity and their undying love, Virginia eloped to marry Warren on May 9th, 1942 when she was 18 years old.
Virginia and Warren raised their children, Warren (Bob or "Bobby" to his mother) and Steve, in Northern Virginia before retiring to Lewisetta in 1979. Virginia enjoyed being on the water and fishing; and even had her own aluminum boat that she would launch off the beach by herself. She hosted fishing parties in her home that turned patrons into close friends who returned for decades to enjoy her sunny side up eggs, fried green tomatoes, and welcoming home. When their boating years were behind them, Warren built Virginia a fishing chair for the end of their dock where she spent most evenings. She and Warren also enjoyed traveling to their winter home in Florida to be close to their son, Bob, and his family. Regardless of location, Virginia always enjoyed crafting. Over the decades, Virginia mastered firing and painting ceramics, working with resin, making dolls, sewing doll clothes, working with sequins, embroidery and painting on pretty much any crab/clam/oyster shell with a suitable shape. Virginia's children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren visited her often in Lewisetta where they enjoyed crab feasts, hunting for sea glass, and crafting together. Determined to stay on the Northern Neck, even when a slower chapter of life beckoned, Virginia and Warren moved to Warsaw where they were immediately embraced and supported by old and new friends until their final days.
As a centenarian, the changes and significant events that Virginia experienced during her lifetime are almost unfathomable. Her memory rarely failed her; and she always had a captive audience to hear stories about outhouses, collecting kindling in the woods, horse drawn carriages, and the scarcities of the Great Depression and wartime rationing. She recently described a lost era and a glimpse of her girlhood tenacity by describing how she was so lucky her mom never found out that as soon as she got to school, she would take off those "awful scratchy stockings" girls were expected to wear in the 1920s.
Virginia joins her parents, siblings, husband, oldest son (Bobby) and oldest great granddaughter (Tiffany) in Heaven.
She is survived by her son, Steve; 5 grandchildren, David (Melanie), Jason (Jennifer), Adam (Jen), Alice (Billy), Candice (Aaron); 16 great grandchildren: Madison, Jacob, Nathan, Laurel, Kyle, Calvin, Liza, Virginia, Sophia, Summer, Dylan, Heidi, Cody, Nicholas, Travis, and Andrew; and 2 great-great grandchildren, Rylie and Elias.
A service honoring Virginia Dameron's life will be held on April 11th, 2025, at 2:00 p.m. at Welch Funeral Home located at 10300 Richmond Road Warsaw, VA 22572 followed by a graveside gathering at Bethany Baptist Church 16256 Richmond Road, Callao, VA 22435. A visitation will be held one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.