Virginia Dell Tolleson

Virginia Dell Tolleson went to be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on December 6, 2009. She was born in Schultz, Oklahoma, on December 31, 1923, to her birth parents Archie and Birdie Pearl (Ray) Bankston. Because her mother died and her father was extremely ill, Virginia was adopted three days after her birth by Arthur Watts Burns and Della Ferguson Cornish Burns of Idabel, Oklahoma. Virginia grew up in Idabel; Nashville, Arkansas; and Murfreesboro, Arkansas. She graduated from Murfreesboro High School in 1941. On October 28, 1945, Virginia Burns married Sgt. Jim Mike Tolleson after he returned from WWII Army Air Force Service in Bedford, England. The happy couple made their first home in DeQueen, Arkansas, then moved to Nashville in 1955. During WWII, Virginia worked as a telephone operator for Southwestern Bell in Nashville. At the beginning of her marriage, she was a clerk in Wooten Grocery Store in DeQueen. After her children were born, she devoted her time lovingly to her family, home, and church. She worked in the nursery and Beginner Department at Nashville First Baptist Church. In the early 1960's, Mrs. Tolleson was a Girl Scout leader. In the 1970's, she served as a dorm mom at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. In the early 1980's, she worked as a cook at Howard Memorial Hospital. She also babysat for several precious children in Nashville. Mrs. Tolleson was a Southern Baptist, a member of Nashville First Baptist Church, and of the Copeland Sunday School Class. Mrs. Tolleson was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, two brothers: Archie Bankston, Jr. And Wheeler Bankston, and three sisters: Louise Reeves, Lorene Hall, and Hattie Renshaw. Her siblings were all from the Dallas, Texas area. Mrs. Tolleson is survived by her daughter, Marsha Dell Langston Rhodes of Las Cruces, New Mexico, and by her son Tim Nolan Tolleson of Nashville, Arkansas. Visitation will be Friday, December 11 from 6-8:00 PM. Services are scheduled for 2:00 P.M. Saturday, December 12, at the Nashville First Baptist Church with Dr. David Blase officiating. Interment will follow at County Line Cemetery under the direction of Latimer Funeral Home, Nashville, Arkansas. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be mad to KNVL - TV, P. O. Box 1020, Nashville, AR 71852. To send flowers or a memorial gift to the family of Virginia Dell Tolleson please visit our Sympathy Store.