Marianne J. Cashatt

Marianne J. Cashatt

Marianne J. Cashatt, who retired in 1990 after 30 years of service at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center (WWRC) in Fishersville, Virginia died on Monday, November 14, 2011, at Rockingham Memorial Hospital. She was 78 years old. Cashatt was a graduate of Auburn University in Auburn, Alabama, and the University of Virginia. Active in her community, she had been a member of the local Mental Health and Mental retardation Services Board and the Augusta County Special Education Advisory Committee; a deacon, elder, and adult teacher at Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church; a member of the Shenandoah Valley Kiwanis Club, the Cosmopolitan Club, The WWRC Council of Organizations and the WWRC Foundation. She devoted herself to issues concerned with providing opportunities for people with disabilities to be productive members of society. She had served as Co-chair of the Virginia Conference of Handicapped Individuals and director of the Virginia Delegation to the White House Conference on Handicapped Individuals in the 1970's and, in the 1980's, State Chair of the International Year of Disabled Persons and Chair of the Governor's Overall Advisory Council on Handicapped Persons. In the 1990's, she chaired Virginia's Disability Services Council, and was a member of the State Rehabilitation Council, the Virginia Board for Rights of People with Disabilities, the Board of the Blue Ridge Chapter of the Multiple Sclerosis Society, and the President's Committee on the Employment of Persons with Disabilities. She was the recipient of awards for her services to people with disabilities on the local, state and national level. Cashatt, an avid Auburn football fan and the University of Virginia basketball fan, helped found the Mid-Atlantic Wheelchair Games and was involved in wheelchair athletics. She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Andrew and Lisa Cashatt and grandchildren, Ty Cashatt, Hannah Layne and her husband Matt, all of Staunton, Virginia; one sister, Kathryn J. Lohmiller of Arnold Nebraska; two nieces, a nephew and their families. In addition to her parents, Pierce and Leanora Jackson, she was preceded in death by her husband, William A. Cashatt; and good friend Hoge Smith. A graveside service will be held 2 p.m. Saturday, November 19, 2011, at Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church Cemetery. A memorial service will be conducted 3 p.m. at the church with Dr. Fred Holbrook and the Reverend Clifford Caldwell officiating. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the M.S. Society of the Blue Ridge, 1 Morton Drive Suite 102, Charlottesville, VA 22903, Tinkling Spring Presbyterian Church Building Fund, 30 Tinkling Spring Drive, Fishersville, VA 22939 or the Sunnyside Presbyterian Church Retirement Community, 600 University Boulevard, Suite L, Harrisonburg, VA 22801. Reynolds Hamrick Funeral Homes of Waynesboro has been entrusted with the arrangements. Family and friends may view the obituary and send condolences on line at www.reynoldshamrickfuneralhomes.com.


This obituary was originally published in the News Virginian.