Virginia L. Walden

VIRGINIA L. WALDEN (Age 89)  
Of Richmond, Virginia, and formerly of McLean, Virginia, died January 28, 2012. She was born in Mt. Vernon, Ohio on August 9, 1922, and was the daughter of William W. and Hazel L. Lanning, who moved to Canton, Ohio in 1931 where they both taught high school for many years. Virginia graduated from Lehman High School in Canton in 1940, and received a full academic scholarship to Pembroke College in Brown University, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa in 1943 with an A.B. Degree in Greek and Latin Classics. She later graduated from Bryn Mawr College, again on a full scholarship, in 1944 with a Masters Degree in Greek and Latin Classics. Virginia was employed by the U.S. government as a research analyst from 1944 to about 1950, after which she taught Latin at the Foxcroft Academy in Middleburg, Virginia until 1953. She then returned to Washington, D.C. and worked for the federal government until 1963. During that time, she was stationed for several years in Athens, Greece. Virginia married Kenneth E. Walden on August 23, 1963, in Canton, Ohio. She enjoyed travel and was an avid reader of classical literature and mystery novels.Virginia is survived by Kenneth and their daughter, Melissa Diane Walden Ashkani, and two granddaughters, Samantha Virginia and Emily Grace. Virginia's brother, Donald W. Lanning, died in 1999 in Houston, Texas. A memorial service will be planned at a later date to be held at The National Presbyterian Church in Washington, DC.