I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith .

Sylvia Lee Gray Edgar died on Sunday morning, June 13, 2021, after a short illness.  Sylvia was born on April 11, 1935, in Bristol, Virginia, the second child of David Eldridge Gray and Ruth Cowan Harris Gray.  She grew up on the Tennessee side of Bristol, spending time both at the Gray family home in town and with her extended family at Gray's Dairy located on Weaver Pike just outside of town.  Sylvia graduated from Bristol's Tennessee High School in 1952 and entered King College in Bristol that fall. At King, Sylvia played on the women's basketball team, was a member of the Pi Pi Sigma Literary Society, and studied English and French.

During her first semester at King, Sylvia met and, a few months later, began to date a fellow freshman at King and a member of the school's men's basketball team, Frank A. Edgar of Hampton, Virginia.  After a year of dating, Frank approached Sylvia's father to seek Sylvia's hand in marriage.  His request was denied by Mr. Gray with the direction that, before marrying, "at least one of them must graduate."  Thereafter, and as a result of her taking summer school classes, Sylvia graduated from King College in 1955 with a Bachelor of Arts Degree in English.  She then taught elementary school for a year in Kingsport, Tennessee, while Frank finished college.

Sylvia and Frank were married on June 2, 1956, at the Memorial Chapel at King College.  That summer, the two served as counselors at Camp Sequoya at Sullins College in Bristol.  During the 1956-57 school year, Sylvia taught at an elementary school in Bristol, Tennessee, while Frank taught and coached at Virginia High School in Bristol, Virginia.  Following a second summer working at Camp Sequoya, Sylvia and Frank moved to Hampton, taking an apartment next door to Frank's parents on Elizabeth Road.  She and Frank then began attending St. John's Episcopal Church in downtown Hampton, beginning her sixty-four-year relationship with the parish.

In the fall of 1957, Sylvia took a teaching job at Langley View Elementary School in Hampton.  Sylvia taught at Langley View until the summer of 1961, when she left teaching full time due to her being pregnant with her first child.  Despite her "condition," Sylvia continued to work as a substitute teacher at Langley View in the fall of 1961.

Sylvia and Frank had two children, Frank Jr. in 1962 and Mary Gray in 1963.  In May 1964, and having outgrown their one-bedroom apartment, Sylvia and her family moved to their current home in the Wythe neighborhood in Hampton.  There, surrounded by other young families and supportive older neighbors, she and Frank raised their children.

Sylvia returned to substitute teaching in the Hampton City Schools in the late 1960s, something she did for the following fifteen years.  Later, Sylvia worked as the Parish Secretary at St. John's Episcopal Church, a job she held for over fifteen years.  Sylvia also served as an Officer of Elections in Hampton from 1986 until 2004.

After their own children left home, Sylvia and Frank became the supportive older neighbors to the many young families that moved into Wythe.  During those forty-plus years, Sylvia took great joy in greeting and befriending those families and their children, handing out candy and admiring costumes on Halloween nights, delivering gifts at Christmastime, and communicating her support and love through cards sent on various occasions throughout the year.

Since the late 1970s, Sylvia and Frank enjoyed traveling to Europe every other year or so.  Initially, they explored England, Scotland, and Ireland, and later expanded their destinations to include France, Germany, Austria, Poland, and Belgium.  On one memorable trip, Sylvia and Frank traveled to the Belgian/French border to visit the site of her father David's capture in December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge.  Sylvia and Frank also took their children and grandchildren on trips to London, Paris, and Ireland.  Most recently, Sylvia and Frank have enjoyed river cruises down the Danube and Rhine rivers to visit local Christmas markets, and had planned another trip down the Danube for December 2021.

Throughout her life, Sylvia enjoyed reading the Daily Press daily from cover to cover, and often cut out cartoons and articles to mail to her children and grandchildren. Sylvia and Frank also hosted a family beach week each August in Duck, North Carolina, enjoying times at the beach playing games, working on puzzles, and sharing family meals. She enjoyed sending cards to family members and friends, attending services and events at her beloved St. John's Church, attending her grandchildren's sporting events, recitals, and graduations, reading novels, playing bridge and doing crossword puzzles, visiting with familiar employees at local stores while she shopped, seeing friends at lunches and dinners at the Hampton Yacht Club, and compiling family history.  Throughout their life together, Sylvia and Frank supported King College and many local charities, non-profits, and neighborhood fundraisers and school events.

Sylvia was predeceased by her parents and by her beloved aunt, Mary Ailene Gray, her half-sister, Jo Anne Jennell, and her great friend, Mary Ann "Ann" Ward.  She is survived by her husband of 65 years, Frank, her two children, Frank A. Edgar, Jr. (Ann) of Hampton and Mary Gray Edgar Berry (Mike) of Williamsburg, by her five grandchildren, Jordan C. Edgar (Olivia) of Monkton Ridge, VT, Ian C. D. Edgar of Essex Junction, VT, Michael F. Berry Jr. of Richmond, David A. Berry of Williamsburg, and Hannah Gray D. Edgar of Hampton, and her two great-granddaughters, Sylvia Grace Edgar and Delia Jean Edgar.  Sylvia also is survived by her brother, Joseph Milton Gray of Colorado Springs, Colorado, her nieces, nephews, numerous cousins and their families, her friends at St. John's Church, especially her fellow members of the Bracket Club, St. Anne's Guild, and the Heritage Committee, her neighbors in Wythe, and her many wonderful friends she gathered and enjoyed spending time with over her life.  In fact, during her illness, Sylvia specifically mentioned that she "wanted to thank all my friends and my family" for their love over the years.  And Sylvia is survived by her beagle, Andy, her companion on hundreds of walks around her neighborhood.

A memorial service for Sylvia will be conducted by the Rev. Mark Riley at St. John's Church, 100 West Queensway, Hampton, Virginia, at 11:00 am on Thursday, June 17, 2021, and will be followed by a reception at the Church's Parish Hall.  A private burial service for family members only will be conducted later in the cemetery surrounding St. John's Church.

Friends and neighbors are invited to contribute flowers and greenery from their own yards to adorn the Parish Hall for the reception, which items may be brought to the Parish Hall prior to the memorial service.  Memorials also may be in the form of contributions to the St. John's Church Charitable Trust, which supports the Church's outreach ministry. Arrangements are being made by R. Hayden Smith Funeral Home, 245 S. Armistead Avenue, Hampton, Virginia 23669.