Anthony, Anne Gentry, age 89, of Chesterfield, passed away June 25, 2009. She was the widow of Earl Douglas Anthony of 43 years of marriage. She is survived by her daughter, Carol Rockwell; and her son-in-law, Lynn. Mrs. Anthony was retired from the Southland Corporation and a lifetime member of Branch’s Baptist Church. Her remains rest at Bliley’s-Chippenham, 6900 Hull Street Rd., where the family will receive friends 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, and where funeral service will be held 2 p.m. Sunday. Interment Dale Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Branch’s Baptist Church. 

Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch from 6/26/2009 - 6/27/2009

Murray, James Durwood, 73, of Midlothian, went to be with the Lord June 23, 2009. He is survived by his wife of 50 years, Shirley Dawes Murray; son, Brian Keith Murray and wife, Pamela Wyatt Murray; daughter, Sharon Murray Brooks and husband, Joel Francis Brooks, who looked up to him as if he was his own father; grandchildren, Christopher and Ashley Brooks, Megan, April, Holly and Courtney Murray; brothers, Rev. Horace Murray of South Boston, Aaron Bruce Murray of Morehead City, N.C., and Jerome O. Murray of Rocky Mount, N.C.; sister, Jean Murray Butler also of Rocky Mount. Mr. Murray was an Army veteran and retired as a senior vice-president from Central Fidelity Bank with 35 years of service. He was a longtime member of Clover Hill Baptist Church, and was a true example of God’s design as a husband and father. His family will receive friends 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Bliley’s - Chippenham, 6900 Hull Street Rd., where funeral services will be held 12 noon Friday. Interment Dale Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Clover Hill Baptist Church, 3100 Courthouse Rd., Richmond, Va. 23236. 

Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch from 6/25/2009 - 6/26/2009

Shank, Grace E., 95, of Midlothian, passed away June 24, 2009 at Brandermill Health Care. She was born December 18, 1913 in Auburn, N.Y. Her husband, Philip G. Shank, preceded her in death in 1988. She is survived by her daughter, Shirley Gibbons and son-in-law, Cuyler Gibbons; grandchildren, Cuyler Gibbons Jr. and his wife, Jane, and Catherine Kunkel and her husband, Christopher; three great-granddaughters, Natalie Gibbons and Kathryn and Emily Kunkel. A memorial service and interment will be held at Oak Ridge Cemetery in the town of Springport Cayuga County, N.Y. The family wishes to thank the staff of Brandermill Health Care for their care and support during the past five and a half years. 

Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on 6/26/2009

THORNTON, Rev. Edwin Clayton III, 62, of Chesterfield, went to be with the Lord on Wednesday, June 24, 2009. He was preceded in death by his father, Rev. Edwin C. Thornton Jr. He is survived by his wife, Astra S. Thornton; sons, Kevin Daniel Thornton and his wife, Heather, and Andrew Morgan Thornton; his mother, Eleanor Thornton; sister, Kathy Beery; brothers, Bill and Jim Thornton; grandsons, Samuel Garrett Thornton, Nicholas Alexander Thornton and Jackson Thomas Thornton. Clay has served as pastor of Tomahawk Baptist since May 12, 1975.

The family will receive friends from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, June 27, 2009 at Tomahawk Baptist Church, 12920 Hull Street Road. Funeral services will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at the church. Interment will follow in the church cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that memorial contributions be made to Tomahawk Baptist Church, 12920 Hull Street Rd., Midlothian, Va. 23112 in memory of Clay. Please have floral offerings delivered to the church. 

Bernick, Frank M., 84, born on a farm in Stockton, Iowa, the son of Frank Robert and Agnes Cross Bernick, passed away on June 23, 2009. He was raised in Iowa City and was a graduate of the New Mexico Military Institute and its Junior College. In 1944 he entered the Cavalry branch of the U.S. Army, serving largely in China followed by attachment to a Chinese Army unit charged with the repatriation to Japan of Japanese citizens in Formosa/ Taiwan where they had lived for over 50 years. Following his discharge from the Army, he attended the University of Iowa and then returned to the Army in its Counter Intelligence Corps where he served for 20 years. His assignments included San Francisco, Salzburg, Austria, Korea, Frankfurt (Germany) and Washington D.C.

After he retired from military service in 1967, he worked for 15 years for the National Council of Senior Citizens in Washington D.C. A few years after his second retirement, he and his wife moved to Brandermill Woods Retirement Community where they lived for 16 years, between frequent trips all over the world. He met and married his wife, the former Joan Sanderson, in Austria in 1954. She survives him as do his three daughters, Susan Bernick of Seattle, Lea Ann Bernick and her partner, Julie Lavezzo, of San Francisco, and Carol Bernick and her husband, Mark Hackett of Portland, Oregon; two grandchildren, Austin Shaff and Anna Shaff. A memorial service will be held on Saturday, June 27 at the Brandermill Church, 4500 Mill Ridge Parkway, in Midlothian, Va. at 11 a.m. Interment will be at Arlington National Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers or gifts, the family requests donations be made to the Brandermill Woods Foundation, 14311 Brandermill Woods Trail, Midlothian, Va. 23112, or a charity of the giver’s choice. 

Published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch on 6/25/2009 

Pearce, Robert Franklin, 27, of Chesterfield, went to be with the Lord on Sunday, June 21, 2009. He is survived by his daughter, Kendal Anne Pearce; parents, Nancy and Russell A. Pearce III; brother and sister-in-law, Russell A. Pearce IV and Vanesa Rene Pearce; niece and nephew, Mya Christine and Russell A. Pearce V; and his loving yellow lab, Buck. The family will receive friends 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at Morrissett Funeral Home, 6500 Iron Bridge Rd. (Rte. 10). His funeral service and interment will be private. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests that contributions be made to the American Lung Association, 9221 Forest Hill Ave., Richmond, Va. 23235.

BURROWS, Pauline Tuttle, 95, went to be with her Lord on June 21, 2009. She was born in Philadelphia to Elsie and Elmer Tuttle, who helped instill in her an abiding Christian faith. Early in the Dep-ression, she met her lifelong love, Tom, and in 1936 they married, started their family and ran a family painting and paper-hanging business. They survived hard times (like Tom’s wounding in the Battle of the Bulge) and relished their time together until Tom’s passing. Pauline and her sisters relocated to Ft. Lauderdale, which remained her home and family destination for 26 years. Failing health encouraged her to move to Virginia to live with her daughter, Carol, who was her dedicated caregiver until her passing. Pauline was preceded in death by her loving husband of 35 years, Thomas H. Burrows; her devoted son, Thomas H. Burrows Jr.; her beloved sister and brother-in-law, Naomi and Bill Anderson; her younger brother, Samuel E. Tuttle; her much-adored son-in-law, Harry F. Hoffman II; and grandson, Daniel Scott Hoffman. Left to cherish her memory are her loving sister and brother-in-law, Ruth and Dick Stewart of Tamarac, Fla.; two caring in-laws, John E. Punyko and Lillian Jackson-Tuttle of Pennsylvania; and her two devoted daughters, Carol B. Hoffman of Midlothian and Dorothy Gross of South Paris, Maine. In addition, her 13 grateful grandchildren, 12 great-grandchildren, who loved their “GG”; numerous nieces and nephews and the hosts of others, with whom she shared her life, will miss her.

Pauline was a welcoming soul with a wide variety of interests, including crossword puzzles, sewing, mystery movies, and indoor gardening, especially her begonias and Christmas cactus. Genealogy was another of her hobbies, as she tracked her family history back to The Mayflower. An excellent cook and warm hostess, she mastered these skills at the side of her grandmother, Mary Showalter, who ran a boarding house. Pauline’s most lasting legacy, however, will be the care, joy, and prayers she sowed into the lives of her friends and family. The family will receive friends at the Huguenot Chapel of Woody Funeral Home, 1020 Huguenot Road, from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Friday, with a memorial service beginning at 11 o’clock. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to Pauline’s favorite charity, Operation Blessing, 977 Centerville Turnpike, Virginia Beach, Virginia.

Frederic Arthur (Fred) Clark, who had tired of reading obituaries noting other’s courageous battles with this or that disease, wanted it known that he lost his battle as a result of an automobile accident on June 18, 2006.

True to Fred’s personal style, his final hours were spent joking with medical personnel while he whimpered, cussed, begged for narcotics and bargained with God to look over his wife and kids. He loved his family. His heart beat faster when his wife of 37 years Alice Rennie Clark entered the room and saddened a little when she left.

His legacy was the good works performed by his sons, Frederic Arthur Clark III and Andrew Douglas Clark MD, PhD., along with Andy’s wife, Sara Morgan Clark. Fred’s back straightened and chest puffed out when he heard the Star Spangled Banner and his eyes teared when he heard Amazing Grace. He wouldn’t abide self important tight *censored*.

Always an interested observer of politics, particularly what the process does to its participants, he was amused by politician’s outrage when we lie to them and amazed at what the voters would tolerate. His final wishes were “throw the bums out and don’t elect lawyers” (though it seems to make little difference).

During his life he excelled at mediocrity. He loved to hear and tell jokes, especially short ones due to his limited attention span. He had a life long love affair with bacon, butter, cigars and bourbon. You always knew what Fred was thinking much to the dismay of his friend and family. His sons said of Fred, “he was often wrong, but never in doubt”. When his family was asked what they remembered about Fred, they fondly recalled how Fred never peed in the shower - on purpose.

He died at MCV Hospital and sadly was deprived of his final wish which was to be run over by a beer truck on the way to the liquor store to buy booze for a double date to include his wife, Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter to crash an ACLU cocktail party.

In lieu of flowers, Fred asks that you make a sizable purchase at your local ABC store or Virginia winery (please, nothing French - the *censored*) and get rip roaring drunk at home with someone you love or hope to make love to. Word of caution though, don’t go out in public to drink because of the alcohol related laws our elected officials have passed due to their inexplicable terror at the sight of a MADD lobbyist and overwhelming compulsion to meddle in our lives.

No funeral or service is planned. However, a party will be held to celebrate Fred’s life. It will be held in Midlothian, Va. Email .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) for more information. Fred’s ashes will be fired from his favorite cannon at a private party on the Great Wicomico River where he had a home for 25 years.

Additionally, all of Fred’s friend (sic) will be asked to gather in a phone booth, to be designated in the future, to have a drink and wonder, “Fred who?”