William Donald Rhinesmith

William Donald Rhinesmith of Walkerton, King and Queen County, Va., died early Sunday morning after an illness. He was born March 26, 1939 in Newport News, grew up in Warwick, Va., and moved with his parents, Lloyd and Mattie Rhinesmith to Williamsburg during his college years. He graduated from Washington and Lee University, where he was an active member of Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity and from the graduate history program at the University of Virginia, where he was a Jefferson Scholar, editor of Essays in History, and where he was elected to the Raven Society and Omicron Delta Kappa. He served as president of the University Center in Virginia, a consortium of Virginia colleges and universities, and worked for more than 25 years in various positions at the Library of Virginia from which he recently retired, among them Editor of Virginia Cavalcade Magazine and archivist at the State Record Center. He was active in community affairs, serving on the vestry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Millers Tavern, numerous times as senior warden, and was instrumental in the formation of an adult parish choir there; was a board member of Aylett Country Day School; and president of the King and Queen Historical Society. He was a frequent lecturer in the 1970s and 80s at Virginia Commonwealth University and Rappahannock Community College, and a speaker at the meetings of various local historical societies. He enjoyed music, architecture, books, and the theater, acting in several play at the Barksdale Theater. He leaves his wife of 40 years, Grace Phelps Rhinesmith of Walkerton; daughter, Caroline Rhinesmith Rudder, her husband, John Blanton Rudder; and grandson, John Whitlow Rudder of Charlottesville, Va.; and sister, Gloria Rhinesmith Nuckles of Yorktown and her family. Expressions of thanksgiving for his life may be sent to those organizations mentioned above which he loved and those groups which celebrate the rich historical legacy and natural beauty of the Commonwealth. Services will be held at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 9, at St. Paul’s Church, Millers Tavern, with burial in the church cemetery, the Rev. Sydney Caitlyn Howell, priest-in-charge, officiating. The family will receive friends at the residence Monday and Tuesday afternoons, 3 to 5 p.m. Arrangements by the Bliley Funeral Homes’ Staples Mill Chapel.