For the last 101 years Virginia Ashford Elliott lived. She arrived March 8, 1917, on the eve of the Great War; when airplanes were a novelty, women couldn't vote, and electric lights, phones and cars were rare. She was the second of six children, born to Constance Schley and Clinton Ashford, of Columbus and Watkinsville, Georgia. She grew up surrounded by great uncles who told tales of the long walk home from Richmond after the War Between the States. A born storyteller, she regaled family and friends with amusing anecdotes about herself and her siblings and their lively household growing up. She also loved to relate escapades with her first cousins, over 30 of them. She attended Athens High School, graduated in 1938 from The University of Georgia and began teaching grade school. In 1943 she married Thomas Elliott, a dashing army captain and graduate of Georgia Tech who she'd known since they were 13. Between his overseas assignments they were transferred back and forth from El Paso, Texas to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Thomas returned from the war with a bronze star and rank of Major, to meet his toddler son soon followed by three more siblings as they made their life first in Decatur, then in Buckhead. She opened an antique shop after her children had flown the nest. Once the grandchildren arrived they returned nearly annually to Wrightsville Beach for summer vacations with family and old army friends.

Coming of age in the Great Depression shaped Virginia's life in some positive ways. Her motto was "Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse" and she could throw great dinner parties on a shoe string. Virginia loved the friends she made along the way and never lost touch with any of them. Her children grew as did her gardens. Flowers and bridge were her delights. She enjoyed the order of a well-planned garden or bridge contract, and loved the surprise of each new bloom and shuffle. Travel was another passion. As a young woman she toured the western states and Mexico with an aunt and cousins. She met the famous Native American potter, Maria Martinez and was invited into her hogan to view her pottery, beginning a lifetime interest in Native American culture. She traveled around the world with her sister and cousin several times, visiting Australia, New Zealand, riding elephants in India, camels in Egypt, and walking on the Great Wall of China. She made road trips across the United States and Canada; reconnected with a high school friend in Italy; joined her nieces in France; road a mule to the bottom of the Grand Canyon; toured the castles of Mad Prince Ludwig in Bavaria and swam with dolphins in Cancun. In her late 90's she visited her sister on the gulf coast of Florida and daughter on the Texas coast. She performed with her daughter during singing engagements, garnering encores and a $10 tip at the age of 99. She never stopped traveling, even if the trips got shorter. Her last jaunt was to the family farm in Watkinsville, to spend New Year's Eve with her sister.

Everywhere Virginia went was an adventure, even if the ski patrol had to ski her down a mountain, or the policeman gave her a ticket for running stop signs. She slowed down in her 90's when she stopped driving, but folks at the retirement community kept a sharp eye out when they saw her coming on her scooter. She continued to tend plants on her condo balcony and at her lake house. She loved her father and mother, her family, her husband, her friends, and seeing new things. She loved jewelry, contributing to Native American charities, and temperance lectures. Indeed, each lecture had a rhyme and meter of its own and the language was often flowery. She quoted poetry, wrote poetry, and sang songs she learned from her parents' generation, songs from the 30's to the 50's, songs from the Cokesbury hymnal, and she especially enjoyed Dean Martin's greatest hits. The day before she died, she sang "I'm Gonna Leave Ol Texas Now", a song she'd learned when she was 10 at Athens Y Camp; just another example of her extraordinary memory and zest for life. She loved springtime, celebrating holidays and family birthdays. She loved babies and couldn't understand why we didn't let her babysit at age 90 (or 100). She loved Siamese cats and had one after the other-- all named "Sweetie" In the last three weeks of her life she'd learned to make Facetime calls on her new iPad and was checking in with friends and family members daily.

She is survived by her sisters Constance Wright and Vivian Van Horne, her children Thomas A. Elliott, Jr. (Connie), Lynne Elliott Jones (Bart), John L. Elliott (Melody), Carol A. Elliott; her grandchildren Linton Elliott (Hart), Jonathan Elliott (Tonya), Thomas Hutto (Amy), John L. Elliott, Jr. (Annie), Leigh Ann Elliott (Matt); and great grandchildren Alex, Bryant and Annie Elliott, Carson and Elliott Hutto, Emmy Elliott, and Morgan Elliott and the children of her cousins, nieces and nephews and their children. At 101 she could still name them all. Her determination to "Keep a-Goin" inspired almost everyone she met. She loved her family. We loved her.

A funeral service will be held at noon, February 3, at Sandy Springs Chapel, located at 136 Mount Vernon Hwy. Visitation with family begins at 11 am. A graveside service will follow at Oconee Hills Cemetery in Athens,