Editor, Gazette-Journal:

I’d like to pay tribute to one filled with Southern elegance, beauty and grace …

I came to Hallieford, Virginia, in the spring of 1978 from Long Island, New York, and little did I know I would be blessed to have an angel, Vivian Vail, as my closest neighbor. Vivian taught me what Southern hospitality was all about. But more than that, she epitomized what a grand Southern lady I had always imagined would be like.

Vivian and I shared many good times, as well as challenging times in our 40-plus years of friendship. She actually became a second mom to me. She let me know, when my oldest daughter was three and a half, and my youngest was just born, that it was time I should be going to church. That church turned out to be Mathews Chapel UMC, where she and her wonderful husband, Ed (and most of Hallieford), attended. Her mom, Ruth, was still alive back then, and one can see that the apple didn’t fall far from the tree! Vivian inherited Ruth&rsqu...