Virginia Sumner

Virginia Frances Sumner
March 27, 1931 – February 7, 2025
Virginia Frances Sumner was born on March 27, 1931, in Coatesville, Pennsylvania to Edward and Una Sumner. Virginia spent her childhood in Oxford, Pennsylvania, where she learned to cook and bake at her mother's side. She attended the Oxford Church of the Nazarene, singing frequently in church. Virginia studied piano under Violet Thompson Andrews and talked frequently of her Gold Medal Recital at the end of her senior year of high school. Virginia graduated from Oxford Area High school in 1948 and attended Eastern Nazarene College for one year. She then returned to Oxford and worked for the telephone company.
Virginia began her U.S. Government civil service career in 1952 as a clerk typist in the Hospital Corps School Finance Division at the U.S. Naval Hospital in Bainbridge, MD. In 1958, she transferred to the Navy Supply Depot in Great Lakes, Illinois. She moved to Washington, D.C. area in 1962 where she would remain the rest of her life. She worked as a time, leave, and payroll clerk for NASA and in 1968 joined the Naval Sea Systems Command as a budget analyst. She was proud of her work on several Navy weapon systems that went aboard our Nation's surface combatants. She was always fastidious in her work, earning her the respect of her colleagues and supervisors as well as many superior performance awards. She retired from the civil service in 1986 and worked for Unysis for several years.
In 1979, Virginia settled in Burke, Virginia. She was active in the choir at Burke Methodist Church and later Messiah Methodist Church. After her retirement, she established an antique business, Antiques and Uniques II (the original Antiques and Uniques was owned by her mother). She also volunteered at the Fairfax County Courthouse.
While her work, music, and antique business, brought Virginia much joy, her greatest joy was her family. She was a devoted daughter, protective big sister, and fun aunt. She visited frequently with her parents in Oxford and cared for them as they aged. She also loved family gatherings; talking with her beloved brother Bob and sister-in-law Pauline; shopping with her niece, Bobbi; and supporting the musical endeavors of her grandnephews, Phillip and Brian, as well as spoiling them. Virginia is survived by her brother Robert (Pauline) Sumner of Media, Pennsylvania; niece Barbara (Doug) Hess of Burke, Virginia; grandnephews Phillip (Sonja) Forgo-Hess of Bronxville, New York; and Brian (Ellen) Hess of Alexandria, Virginia; and great-grandniece, Ruby Forgo-Hess.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to Serving at the Crossroads Robert and Pauline Dental Scholarship Fund at https://www.servingatthecrossroads.org/takeaction/#donate (and scroll down to the scholarship button) or mail a check to Serving at the Crossroads 1048 W. Baltimore Pike, #H306, Media, PA 19063.
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