Virginia Dare Thomas Sadler Simmons -- Industry Plant Worker

 

Virginia Thomas Sadler Simmons

Virginia Dare Thomas was born on February 14, 1923 in Murray, Kentucky, the youngest of two children born to Lilburn Clinton Thomas and Verna Mae Herndon Thomas.  Lilburn and Verna were both natives of Trigg County who had settled in Calloway County after their marriage where they lived before returning twenty years later to Trigg County. Lilburn grew up in the Warrenton community and was a farmer and also operated a rural grocery store during the latter years of his life.  He was a descendant of Starkie Thomas. Virginia’s only sibling was Lacy Clinton Thomas who was born in 1918 and married Dannie Merle Sanders.

Virginia’s early years were spent in Calloway County until her family moved to Trigg County in the late 1930s.  She attended the newly opened Trigg County High School in 1937.  While a senior in high school in December of 1940, she was married but remained in school and graduated in May of 1941.

Virginia married Robert Elgan Sadler on December 21, 1940.  Robert was born on July 27, 1918 in Hopkins County, Kentucky, the son of Melvin Young Sadler and Myrtle Revie Johnson Sadler.  Melvin was a native of Muhlenberg County, Kentucky and was a farmer who had moved to Trigg County. Myrtle was a native of Hopkinsville, Kentucky. Elgan had also been a student at Trigg County High School.

Virginia and Elgan lived in Hopkinsville where Elgan worked as a civil service employee in the quartermaster section at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Virginia worked as an assembler at Thomas Industries in Hopkinsville, a position she held for over 28 years.

Virginia and Elgan were the parents of three children, Rebecca Fern Sadler, born in 1942 and married Joe Charles Mayfield; Robert Eugene Sadler, born in 1944 and died at the age of 8, a victim of cancer; and Peggy Renee Sadler, born in 1957 and married John. W. Aldridge.  

Elgan suffered a fatal heart attack at his home on the morning of November 9, 1958.  He was 40 years old at the time and left behind his two young daughters, one who was only ten months old.  Elgan was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Hopkinsville.

In December 1967, Virginia married Grady Fay Simmons.  Grady was born March 3, 1920 and was the son of Issac Shellie Simmons and Nevada Jackson Dawson Simmons, both natives of Trigg County. Grady had a daughter, Alice Simmons from an earlier marriage. Grady worked as a farmer and he and Virginia continued to live in Christian County.

Grady died on March 9, 2003 at the age of 83 at Jennie Stuart Medical Center in Hopkinsville.  He was buried in the Riverside Cemetery.  Following Grady’s death, Virginia lived with her daughter in Manhattan, Kansas.  Virginia died on May 21, 2018 at the age of 95 at the Via Christi Village in Manhattan. Her remains were returned to Hopkinsville where she was buried in the Riverside Cemetery.

Robert Elgan Sadler

Robert Elgan Sadler tombstone

Grady Simmons

Grady Simmons tombstone

LINEAGE: (Virginia Dare Thomas was the daughter of Lilburn Clinton and Verna Mae Herndon Thomas.  Lilburn was the second child of William Henry and Sidney Dyer Thomas.  William Henry was the third child of Stanley and Emily Ann Light Thomas. Stanley was the second child of Starkie and Mary Bridges Thomas. Starkie was the fourth child of James and Mary Standley Thomas.)