Obituary of Virginia Louise Lansdale Humphrey

March 10, 1923 – November 1, 2012 Virginia Louise Lansdale Humphrey passed away peacefully in her sleep in the comfort of her home in Greenspring Village in Springfield, VA on November 1, 2012. She was 89. Louise was born on March 10, 1923 in Atlanta, MO, the daughter of Earl Wilmont (Monty) Lansdale and Beulah Waller Landsale. She spent her childhood years in Parnell and Kirksville, MO, and graduated from high school in Carrollton, MO. She attended Christian College in Columbia, MO, and graduated from Northeast Missouri State Teachers College located in Kirksville (later named Truman State University) in 1945 with a degree in Home Economics. Louise moved to Washington, DC during the summer following her sophomore year in college and worked for the War Production Board. She met her future husband that summer through a cousin who had preceded her to Washington and boarded in the home of her future mother-in-law. Louise rented a room that summer in a home just up the street. Louise returned to Kirksville for her junior year in college. She returned to Washington the following summer, and again after her graduation from college in 1945. After college she worked at the Department of Agriculture in the vitamin testing department. Her cousin was again boarding in the Humphrey family home. Louise and a friend moved into the home as roommates. Louise later accepted employment as a home economist with the Potomac Electric Power Company where she helped demonstrate and promote the company’s new line of electric stoves, refrigerators and household appliances. She married William Calvin Humphrey on January 18, 1947 at St. Paul’s Methodist Church in Washington, DC, and they began their life together in Washington. A talented and loving homemaker and mother, Louise moved with her young family to Hyattsville, MD after her husband graduated from George Washington University Law School and began his career with the National Labor Relations Board as a trial attorney. They later moved to Erlanger, KY, where Louise taught science and home economics at Dixie Heights High School in S. Fort Mitchell, KY. The family moved to Whitefish Bay, WI in 1965. In 1972 Louise and Bill moved to Severna Park, MD, and in 1976 to Pasadena, MD, where they lived when Bill retired in 1978 as regional director of the National Labor Relations Board. They moved to Annapolis, MD in 1989 and to Greenspring Village in 2003. Louise is survived by her husband Bill, sons Stephen Lansdale Humphrey, and his wife Laura Paynter Humphrey, of Alexandria, VA, Richard Davis Humphrey, and his wife Sheri Moore Humphrey, of Fort Atkinson, WI, and James Alfred Humphrey, and his wife Linda Miller Humphrey, of New York, NY; and grandchildren Sarah Lansdale Humphrey Reinprecht, and her husband Steven Edward Reinprecht, Laura Abigail Humphrey, William Stephen Paynter Humphrey; John Moore Humphrey, M.D., Lindsey Lea Humphrey Hirt, and her husband Brian Douglas Hirt, Jessica Danielle Humphrey Melby, and her husband Drew Scott Melby; Jack Prescott Humphrey and Isabel Juliet Humphrey; and by great-grandchildren Henning Steven Reinprecht and Mette Lansdale Reinprecht. She was a joyful and devoted mother, grandmother and great-grandmother who expressed her gratitude and thanks for her family every day of her adult life. She was known for her creativity and precision as a seamstress who lovingly created handmade dresses, coats, suits and hats for her grandchildren, especially around holidays and special occasions. She was known for her gracious nature, her selfless generosity to her family and others, her beautiful and cheerful personality and her deep and abiding faith in Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. Louise was a teacher for “Bible Study Fellowship” for many years, guiding and inspiring countless women in their faith. One of Louise’s favorite Bible verses was taken from Psalm 100, Verse 5: “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever. His faithfulness continues through all generations.” A memorial service for Louise will be held at 1 PM on Friday, November 23, at the chapel in Greenspring Village, followed by a reception at Greenspring. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, Inc., 322 Eighth Ave., 7th fl., New York, NY 10001.