Virginia Aswell

Virginia Aswell, 91, of Sachse, Texas, died with her family at her side at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, Texas on November 10, 2016. She was born Edith Virginia Loveless on October 2, 1925, near Frankfort, Indiana, on the family farm originally homesteaded in the 1840’s by her great-grandfather. Her parents moved to Louisiana in 1941, eventually settling in East Feliciana Parish. As Louisiana only offered 11 grades in public school, Virginia moved to Los Angeles with her Aunt Mary to finish high school, where she graduated from University High School with honors in 1943. Virginia then attended Louisiana State University (LSU) where she graduated in 1948 with a degree in Dietetics. After graduating, she worked as a hospital dietician in West Monroe, Louisiana.

During World War II, Virginia and her sister, Lorna, joined the war effort in the summer of 1945 as defense workers at an ammunition plant in Indiana, assembling anti-aircraft artillery shells. While at LSU, Virginia was active in the Methodist Student Union, where she met her future husband, Don Aswell. She and Don were married at the Methodist Student Union on Valentine’s Day, 1948 and remained married for 62 years before his death in 2011.

In the 1950’s, Don and Virginia settled in New Orleans where they lived for over 50 years until forced to move to Sachse by Hurricane Katrina in 2007. While living in Louisiana, Virginia was a longtime member of the Gretna United Methodist Church in Gretna, Louisiana, and served with Gideon’s International. Virginia and her husband served as members of the governing bodies of the United Methodist Church for decades as delegates to the Louisiana Annual Conference, representing nearly 500 Louisiana churches, and as delegates to the quadrennial General Conference representing over 32,000 Methodist Churches nationwide.

For over 50 years, Virginia used her dietitian skills to serve and lead a dedicated team of volunteers from the Gretna United Methodist Church as they hosted Gretna’s Rotary Club of the West Bank in its weekly luncheon meetings. In addition to planning for, preparing and feeding the Club at meetings often with hundreds of participants, Virginia’s team also provided substantial assistance of other kinds to the Club in support of its selfless service to the community, making a difference in thousands of lives each year. After moving to Sachse in 2007, Virginia was active in the Buckingham United Methodist Church and later joined the First United Methodist Church of Sachse.

In addition to her husband, Don, Virginia was preceded in death by her daughter, Marjorie Aswell; brothers, Robert and Benjamin Loveless; and her sister, Lorna Bennie. She is survived by sister, Nina Schales; daughter, Carol Campion and her husband, Laurence; son, Colonel Paul Aswell, US Army (Retired) and his wife, Meg; seven grandchildren; and 15 great-grandchildren.

Services will be held at 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, November 16, 2016 at the First United Methodist Church of Sachse with Reverend Frank Rahm officiating. Interment will be at 12 noon, Thursday, November 17, 2016 at Downsville Cemetery, Downsville, Louisiana.