HUBERT -  Virginia Caroline Reavis (formally Russell) died February 5, 2024.  She was the daughter of William Walker Russell Jr. and Nellie Louise (Montfort) Russell.  She is survived by her children Stephen and his wife Lesley, Carol Shepard and her husband Steve, Roger and his wife Ellen, and Russell.  She had eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held Friday, February 9, 2024 at 3:00 PM at Oak Grove United Methodist Church with Rev. John Jones officiating. Burial will follow at the church cemetery.

Virginia was born October 6, 1920 on a small farm in Onslow County.  She graduated high school in Swansboro North Carolina.  Most of her school years were spent during a time of great national economic hardship.  Money was scarce however, her and her three siblings (Charles Russell, Nell Hancock and Sara Hendersen) always had enough to eat and a roof over their heads.  At the age of 18 she attended Louisburg Methodist College (a rare achievement at the time), followed by nurses training at Thompson Memorial Hospital in Lumberton.  At the outbreak of the American involvement in WWII, at the age of 20, she enlisted in the Army.  Following basic training she volunteered for a new program called medical air evacuation, in which wounded were flown from points of operation to medical facilities in Europe and the US.  The wounded on these flights were to be attended by nurses.  Five days following D-Day, Virginia was flying wounded out of France to medical facilities in Scotland and the US.

While on a furlough to London, in a bomb shelter during a V-2 rocket attack, she met a young transport pilot named Clay Reavis.  Following the war they were married and relocated to Southern California where Clay's family resided.  She continued in her nursing profession and supported Clay while he attended law school at the University of Southern California.  Upon completion of the bar exam they moved to a suburb of Orange County California where they raised four children.  In that time Virginia did volunteer work in a legal aid society.  When the children were mostly grown she reestablished her nursing credentials and performed medical care to the developmentally disabled at a facility in Santa Ana California.  After 52 years in Southern California, Clay retired and they moved back to the Bear Creek area of Hubert North Carolina where they were eventually joined by their four children.

Virginia truly cared about all those she knew.  She demonstrated a selflessness that became the hallmark of her generation.  She always saw the good in people even when it was not apparent to others.  Everyone who knew her loved her.  She will be greatly missed.

In lieu of flowers memorials may be made to Oak Grove United Methodist Church Memorial Fund.