May 4, 1956 --
WALTER E. THOMPSON -- Walter Edmonson Thompson, 80
died Sunday at his home in this town. He was of a pioneer Tazewell County resident. His parents were
William T. and Ellen Hayter Thompson of Thompson Valley. He went to California when a young man, where he was a
rancher for 18 years and returned to Tazewell in 1918 and operated a mercantile
business here for several years. He was a licensed agent for the
Virginia Division of Motor Vehicles at the time of his retirement several years
ago. He married Miss Mary Dorinda Thompson of California, who preceded him in death in
1954. He is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Earl Bowman of Richlands; two sons, W. W. Thompson of Richlands
and Hayter Thompson of Tazewell, and one sister, Mrs.
F. M. Buhrman of Wallace Va. Funeral services were
conducted Tuesday at 10 am from the Presbyterian Church with Dr. H. S.
Patterson of Bluefield, officiating. Burial was in Maplewood.
JOHN T. WATKINS -- John T. Watkins, 84, of Grundy, died Wednesday in a Grundy Hospital, after an illness of several
weeks. He was a pioneer citizen of Buchanan County and a retired businessman of Lynchburg. He attended Abingdon College in his youth and was a member of
the Methodist Church of Grundy. Funeral services were held in the Grundy Methodist Church and burial was in the Clinch Valley Memorial Cemetery at Richlands.
Mr. Walkins was an uncle of Mrs. Ernest Lester of
Tazewell
ALICE MCDONALD CHAPMAN BOYER -- Mrs. J. B. Boyer, one of Tazewell's most loved
women and a member of a
prominent pioneer family, died Wednesday morning in the Jeffersonville Hospital. Although in her 90th year
she was active until a few days before her death. She was Miss Alice
McDonald Chapman, daughter of Isaac E. And Eliza Gillespie Chapman and was born
September 28, 1866. She was educated in Tazewell and Sullins College, Bristol. She married Col. J.B. Boyer
on March 1, 1893 and with the exception of four years when they lived on
their farm in Maryland, all their lives were spent in
Tazewell. They had no children, but Mrs. Boyer had the care of her brother's
son, Byrd Chapman whose mother died at his birth. She was a devoted
Presbyterian and was active in every phase of her church work. She was
interested in civic affairs; was a charter member of the Tazewell Woman's
Club. She was the last member of her direct family. Col. Boyer died
in 1945. She is survived by a nephew, Justice A. C. Buchanan of the
Virginia Supreme Court and two nieces, Mrs. V.L Sexton Sr. of Bluefield, Va.
and Mrs. J. M. Morer of Walterbora,
S.C. Judge V.L. Sexton of Bluefield, Va. and Dr. R. C. Chapman of Richlands are great nephews. Mrs. Boyer will be
remembered by her many friends as being kind, gentle and always thoughtful of
others. Funeral services were conducted Thursday morning at 10:30 from the Presbyterian Church by
Rev. A.B. Montgomery and burial was in the Jeffersonville Cemetery. |