Individual Details

DEATHS
The Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA) - Thursday, February 8, 2001
Beloved wife of 54 years and mother of nine children, Virginia Lee Walton Jennings, 86, passed peacefully into heaven on Wednesday morning, Feb. 7, 2001, at Landmark of Baton Rouge. Born on May 7, 1914, in Memphis, Tenn., she will be long remembered with her sister as The Walton Sisters -- Sweetheart Singing Sisters of the Airwaves. Musically gifted, she entertained thousands of early radio listeners in the mid-South with a weekly radio show of songs and chat, broadcast from high atop Peabody Hotel in beautiful downtown Memphis, Tenn. She was educated at Central High School in Memphis, but truly delighted in her stage work, taking The Walton Sisters on successful vaudeville tours, including time singing on New York stages. A successful screen test with Paramount Pictures and contract offer were turned down in order to marry the man she loved and have a family of nine children. She served her Lord, her family and her community faithfully and well. She was a PTA president as well as a Kiwanis Ladies Auxiliary president; she also was president of a unit of Women's Society of Christian Service, later known as United Methodist Women. She was a life member of Women's Hospital Auxiliary in Baton Rouge, having served for many years in the hospital gift shop. She was a member of Broadmoor United Methodist Church, where in past years she was a Sunday school teacher and member of the chancel choir, as well as being a member of the Fellowship Sunday school class. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Saturday in Broadmoor United Methodist Church sanctuary, officiated by the Rev. Ken Carroll and the Rev. Alice Story. She was preceded in death by her beloved husband of 54 years, Harold Manning Jennings Sr.; a daughter and son-in-law, Phyllis Ann and Dr. W.E. Jeter; a daughter, Patricia Alma Vance; a son, Herbert Kent Jennings; mother, Alma Agnes Walton; father, Roy Walton; and her sister, Lady Alma Walton Dobbs. Four daughters and sons-in-law survive her, Virginia and Bill Gavin, Pine Bluff, Ark., Molly and Donald Duco
te and Janis and Warren Mayeux, all of Baton Rouge, and Claudia and Bob DeGraff; and she is survived by a son, Harold Manning Jennings Sr., Miami; a son and daughter-in-law, Sam and Jodie Jennings, Ponchatoula; a son-in-law, Arie Vance Jr., Corinth, Miss.; and two nieces, Diana Dobbs Charles, Germantown, Tenn., and Linda Dobbs Walther, Wiesbaden, Germany. Her 20 surviving grandchildren are Cathy Parra, Miami, Donna Jennings, Jonesboro, Tenn., Chuck Jeter and Leigh Ann Jeter, both of Louisville, Ky., Tammie Deweese and Susan Sanders, both of Pine Bluff, Karen Kelly, Washington, D.C., Chip Vance, Montgomery, Ala., Amanda Vance, Oakland, Calif., Jimmy Ducote and Tracie Moran, both of Gonzales, Philip Mayeux, Hammond, Elizabeth Mayeux, Baton Rouge, Jennifer Falanga, Jeff DeGraff, Lori DeGraff and Josh DeGraff, all of Baton Rouge, and Josh Ard, Samuel Jennings and Miranda Jennings, all of Ponchatoula. Sixteen great-grandchildren survive her; and she is survived by a special friend, Jimmie Dee McLeod of Baton Rouge. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Broadmoor United Methodist Church.

Birth	7 May 1914	Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee
Marriage	17 Sep 1932	Memphis, Shelby County, Tennessee - Harold Manning Jennings
Death	7 Feb 2001	Baton Rouge, East Baton Rouge Parish, Louisiana

Spouse	Harold Manning Jennings ( - 1987)
Child	Harold Manning Jennings Jr (1934 - 2006)
Child	Phyllis Ann Jennings (1937 - 1978)
Child	Living
Child	Patricia A. "Pat" Jennings (1940 - 1999)
Child	Herbert Kent Jennings (1942 - 1906)
Child	Living
Child	Living
Child	Living
Child	Living

Father	Roy George Walton (1892 - 1946)
Mother	Alma Agnes Kahlfield (1894 - 1976)