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FRANCES BRAY MORELAND LEWIS

Frances Bray Moreland Lewis, 100, of Hampton, Virginia, widow of Raymond W. Lewis Sr., died Friday, August 12, 2016. 

Born in Hampton, Frances graduated from Hampton High School in 1932, College of William and Mary in 1936 with a liberal arts degree, and later with a Master’s Degree in Library Science from Drexel Institute of Technology. She worked many years as a Supervisory Librarian at Fort Eustis, Va.

She attended Central United Methodist Church in Hampton, later becoming a member of Christ Episcopal Church, Mathews, Virginia. She was a member of the Gamma Phi Beta Sorority, the American Daffodil Society, Virginia Daffodil Society, Garden Clubs of Virginia, and the Garden Club of Gloucester.

Frances was an accredited judge for the American Daffodil Society, who began displaying daffodils after going to a regional show with a family friend around 1960. For the next 40 years she won numerous awards in the Tidewater Virginia Daffodil Show. In 1965 she won Best in Novice Class, in 1974 she won the show’s top award, the Eleanor Truax Harris Challenge Cup, and in 1987 she won the Jennette H. Rustin Trophy. 

She set a high standard of excellence that still continues in the Garden Clubs of Virginia today.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Hugh and Mattie Moreland; brother, Hugh Maurice Moreland; sister, Anne Moreland Dickinson, and sister, Martha (Pete) Moreland Thomas.

She is survived by a niece, Anne D. Pavey; a nephew, Phillip M. Thomas; a stepson, Raymond W. Lewis Jr., and their families.

A private graveside service was conducted at the Christ Episcopal Church cemetery, Mathews.

In memory of Frances, donations may be given to the Garden Club of Gloucester or the Virginia Daffodil Society.