Virginia Ann Gardner Strickland

CHESTER Mrs. Virginia Gardner Strickland, 87, passed away peacefully at her home on November 21, 2022. Services will be held at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Chester at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, November 30, 2022, with Pastor Rick Wheeler officiating. The family will receive friends at 10:00 a.m. at the church. Interment will follow at Chester Memorial Gardens. She was born on May 26, 1935 in Rock Hill, South Carolina, the daughter of the late Oscar Franklin Gardner and Nellie Faile Gardner. Her family moved to Chester when she was a child and she spent most of her life there. In 1952, she married her husband of nearly seventy years, Robert Gene Strickland, who predeceased her by only a few months. She worked for many years at Belk in Chester, and thereafter volunteered with Child Evangelism Fellowship. She loved the Lord and was always active in her church as long as her health permitted. She is survived by her three children, Mary Strickland Atkinson (Ernie), Kathy Strickland Wright (Ed), and Robert Thomas Strickland (Peggy); six grandchildren; ten great-grandchildren; and a nephew, John David Massey of Chester. The family is grateful to Beth, Julie, Martha, and Vickie, her caregivers during her final months, and to Lori, Eva, and everyone else at Agape Hospice. Memorials may be made to Trinity Presbyterian Church, 651 Great Falls Highway, Chester, SC 29706, and Child Evangelism Fellowship, Catawba River Chapter, 2260 Cross Pointe Drive, Suite 203, Rock Hill, SC 29730. Online condolences may be made to the family at www.barronfuneralhome.com.