Obituaries – March 15th, 2017

BRYAN, Donald A.

Donald A. “Jake” Bryan, of Buchanan, passed away quietly with his family by his side on Thursday night, March 9, 2017 in his home in Arcadia at the age of 81.

Jake was born in Arcadia on March 2, 1936. He was one of six children of Robert Burhman and Pauline White Bryan. He was preceded in death by his brothers, Robert and Beverly.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Nancy Tuck Bryan; two sons, David and wife, Angie; Donald “Buck”; grandsons, Taylor, Dylan and Colton; and granddaughters, Emily and Morgan; brothers, Stanley of Corpus Christi, Texas; Daniel of Roanoke; and Carole Bryan Steiner of Long Beach, Calif.

Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Sunday, March 12, in the Buchanan Chapel of Botetourt Funeral Home with Elder Edgar “Pedro” Tuck officiating. Interment was private in Watson Cemetery. Memorials may be made to Good Samaritan Hospice, 2408 Electric Road, Roanoke 24018, 776-0841. Online condolences may be made at www.botetourtfuneralhome.com.

PATSEL, Mary M.

Mary Elizabeth Mullins Patsel, Sept 13, 1925–March 9, 2017. Our precious mama went to her heavenly home with her family by her side on Thursday, March 9, 2017.

Mary accepted the Lord as her Savior in 1955 at Spec Mission. She was a charter member of Valley View Baptist Church where she taught Sunday School, served as treasurer and custodian for many years. Mary read the Bible through 30 times since 1980. She retired from driving a school bus for Botetourt County; then drove special needs children to school until she was 80. She was a strong and hard-working woman.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 43 years, Edwin E. “Bud” Patsel; parents, Coy and Clara Mullins; siblings, Jessie, Harry, Donald, and Johnnie Mullins, Katherine Tuttle, Alma Barker, Hattie Mae Bruno, and Patsy Partridge.

She is survived by her daughters and sons, Martha Jane (Ron) Porter, Roy “Buddy” (Rita) Patsel, John Patsel (Sue Cochran) and Ruth (Stedman) Grubb; grandchildren, Christie (Claude) Campbell, Josh, Jeremy (Mindy), and Jared Patsel, Jonathan (Megan) Whorley, and Ashley Niday; great-grandchildren, Olivia Campbell, Mason, Harman, and Alana Niday, and Elijah Patsel; sisters, Dorothy Kouyoumjian, Hazel Garcia, and Phyllis “Petie” (Jim) Holt.

Funeral services were held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 14, at Valley View Baptist Church with the Rev. Daniel Boone officiating. Interment was in Fairview Cemetery. Botetourt Funeral Home, Buchanan, handled arrangements. Online condolences may be made at www.botetourtfuneralhome.com.

WRIGHT, Donald W.

Donald Wayne Wright, Sr., 76, of Troutville, passed away Thursday, March 9, 2017.

Wayne loved to hunt and fish, he was very comfortable being outdoors, enjoyed reading Civil War books and listening to Bluegrass music, was a very big fan of the New York Yankees, and deeply loved his “girls,” Megan and Madison. He served his country in the US Air Force being stationed in Germany and Shaw AFB in South Carolina and had lived and served in Israel as a missionary for over four years.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Howard Wesley and Viola Zell Wright; son, Donald W. Wright Jr.; brothers, Buddy Wright and Ray Wright; brother-in-law, Don Painter; and sister-in-law, Alma Wright.

Wayne is survived by his wife of 55 years, Janice Simpson Wright; son and daughter-in-law, Randall Lynn and Lisa Wright of Blue Ridge; daughter and son-in-law, Cindy and Scott Metheny of Troutville; granddaughters, Megan and Madison Metheny; brother, Ronald Wright of Clifton Forge; sisters and brother-in-law, Aileen Painter of Virginia Beach and Barbara and Gary Showalter of Iron Gate; sisters-in-law, Ruth Wright of Clifton Forge and Betty Wright of Eagle Rock; brother-in-law, Richard and Kathryn Simpson of Troutville; and many nieces and nephews.

A graveside service was held at 2 p.m. Monday, March 13, in the Eagle Rock Baptist Church Cemetery with the Rev. J.R. Graybill officiating. Memorials may be made to the Prayer Blanket Ministry of Mill Creek Baptist Church, 11475 Lee Highway, Fincastle, 24090. The family would like to thank Medi Home Health and Hospice for their love and care given to Wayne. The Eagle Rock Chapel of Botetourt Funeral Home handled the arrangements. Online condolences may be made at www.botetourtfuneralhome.com.

OBENSHAIN, Virginia R.

Virginia “Toots” Rideout Obenshain died quietly Sept. 10 at home in Albuquerque, N.M., after a courageous two-year battle with pancreatic cancer with her loving family by her side.

Toots was born in Boston, Mass., May 12, 1937 to Virginia Stull Rideout and Richard Lunt Rideout. At age 4, she, her mother and sister left Boston and split time between Washington, D.C., where her mother worked for the federal government and the fledgling airline industry, and Buchanan, Va., where her mother had grown up. In the sixth grade, Toots moved permanently to Buchanan to live with her aunt, Mary Aiken (“Chugga”) Carson and her family.

Toots attended Radford College, where she met her future husband, Samuel Scott Obenshain, on a Baptist Student Union scavenger hunt. Scott was a student at Virginia Tech in his hometown of Blacksburg. They were married in Buchanan in 1959 and began their life together in Winston-Salem, N.C., where Scott was studying medicine. There, Toots began her teaching career teaching developmentally delayed students.

While in Winston-Salem, they welcomed their first child, Sarah Adair (“Dair”) Obenshain. During summer vacations, Toots worked at R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., which hired teachers to cover regular employees’ vacations. Two months sorting cigarettes paid as much as nine months of teaching.

The budding family followed Scott’s medical career across the country, from Cleveland, Ohio to Palo Alto, Calif., where their second child, Rebecca (“Becky”) Obenshain O’Gawa, was born. Scott then served two years in the Army at Fort Riley, Kansas. While there not only did they bring Samuel Stull Obenshain into the world, but also created some memorable stories that captured Toots’ spirit of fairness and advocacy for those facing challenges in their lives. One was the now “infamous” letter she wrote to President Lyndon Johnson in 1966 regarding the casually dismissive treatment by the Fort Riley Officers’ Wives Club of their Jewish members, which drew a quick and effective response from the White House and the Pentagon.

Scott, Toots, and family then moved back to Cleveland for Scott’s pediatric fellowship, where Rachel Scott Obenshain Landavazo was born. Toots continued her career teaching children with special needs, part of her legacy of fighting for those less fortunate. She had a reputation for unyielding compassion mixed with a sense of humor second to none!

In 1970, when Scott was offered a position in the Pediatrics Department at The University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Toots reportedly accepted the position and the family uprooted themselves once again and moved to the Southwest. Albuquerque remains the Obenshain family home to this day. While Scott settled into his work at the medical school, Toots revived her teaching career by working with students with special needs. As an educator, she spent years working with Albuquerque Public School students who required special attention, focus and patience.

She thrived on every tear-jerking and/or side-splitting story because of her uncanny people-smarts, love and (sometimes scandalous) humor. Toots, they say, got called to the Principal’s office more often than her students. Her work inspired her own children’s careers in innumerable ways, within and outside of the Albuquerque school system. Toots loved her students as her own, but consistently mentioned during the last few months of her life that she was most proud of raising four wonderful children.

A friend has written, “It’s hyperbole to say that the Obenshain family saved my life, but… to be honest, not by much… I’d never seen such a close-knit — and yet welcoming and ever-expanding — family; it was foreign to me and frankly pretty magical. To this day, the ‘Obenshain Compound,’ expanded with homes for the grown kids and their families, has some sort of ‘everything’s going to be OK” fairy-dust dome over it for so many.’”

As an advocate for underdogs, outcasts, and overlooked people of all stripes, Toots was unstoppable. She became president of ABQ Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) within a short time of her own daughter’s coming out. Toots marched with PFLAG and the Raging Grannies in ABQ’s Pride parade many a time and one year was the parade’s grand marshal, riding on the back of a convertible with her grandkids in her lap and her family strewn throughout the parade route cheering her on! Although the parades were a blast, Toot’s real advocacy came at the New Mexico State Legislature where she was a constant presence championing the rights of all. Later in her life, after retiring from APS, Toots joined the Albuquerque Assistance League and managed the Operation School Bell program, which bought school uniforms for almost 4,000 low-income children, making her again well known among Albuquerque schools.

Toots never met a stranger. She had a seat reserved at Thanksgiving and Christmas for anyone who didn’t have a place to go or a family with whom to celebrate. There are too many stories to tell about this amazing person who graced us with her laughter, smile, larger-than-life heart, and love for her family.

Toots is survived by her loving husband of 57 years, Scott; her daughter Dair and her wife Mary Ramos, their children Benjamin and Emily; her daughter Becky and her husband Mark O’Gawa, and their children, Richard and Daniel; her son Samuel and his wife Kory Obenshain, and their children, Carleigh and Teegan; her daughter, Rachel and her husband, Daryl Landavazo, and their children, Julia, Sami Jo, Jaime and Louisa, all in Albuquerque; and her sister, Nancy Parker of Annapolis, Md. She is also survived by an extended family of relatives and friends across the United States and the world who understand what it means to have Toots lodged deeply in their hearts forever.

A memorial service in Toots’ honor will take place on Saturday, March 18 at 1 p.m. at Buchanan Presbyterian Church, 19559 Main Street, Buchanan. A reception will follow the service.