Elizabeth Leland Gignilliat Downs - ROANOKE, VA - Elizabeth Leland Gignilliat Downs was born to eternal life on November 11, 2012 in Roanoke, VA. She was born to life on December 4, 1936, in Savannah, GA, to Dr. Arthur Mathewson Gignilliat, Sr., and Elizabeth Kennedy Gignilliat. Betty Leland, as she was affectionately known to family and friends, was a graduate of Savannah High School, Armstrong Junior College, and The George Washington University, Washington, DC. She also received a Master of Arts degree from Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. She taught social studies in the public school systems of Portsmouth, Virginia, and Salem, Virginia, for over twenty years. She served as a Board member for the Portsmouth Redevelopment and Housing Authority, and was an active volunteer and church member in the communities in which she lived. She was a devoted wife and mother who was loved and cherished beyond words by her family. She is survived by her husband of almost fifty years, Charles L. Downs, and their three children, Elizabeth Downs Sams and her husband, Brian of Savannah, GA, Christian Gignilliat Downs and his wife, Laura of Falls Church, VA, and Charles Lowell Downs, Jr., and his wife, Kristi of Roanoke, VA, and seven grandsons, Charles L. Downs III, Thomas T. Downs, William M. Sams, Mathewson R. Downs, Arthur T. Downs, Joseph G. Downs, and Michael C. Downs. She is also survived by her brother, Arthur M. Gignilliat, Jr., and his wife Molly, of Savannah, GA. The Downs family would like to thank all those who assisted Elizabeth during the last few years of her illness, especially her devoted caregiver and friend, Ms. Barbara Waller, the staff of the J. C. Thomas Memory Care Center at Richfield Retirement Community, the Richfield Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, and Brandon Oaks. A memorial service will be held 1:30 PM, Friday, November 16, 2012 at Christ Lutheran Church, 2011 Brandon Ave., Roanoke, VA, with a reception immediately following in the church fellowship hall. Interment will be in Savannah, GA, in the Greenwich section of Bonaventure Cemetery. Oakey's Funeral Service & Crematory Roanoke Chapel 540-982-2100 Savannah Morning News November 14, 2012 Please sign our Obituary Guest Book at savannahnow.com/obituaries.