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2016 SESSION

16103737D
HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 118
Offered February 3, 2016
Celebrating the life of Edna B. Ipson.
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Patrons-- Massie, Loupassi, McQuinn, O'Bannon, Peace and Ware
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WHEREAS, Edna B. Ipson, a courageous survivor of the Holocaust and a beloved resident of Richmond who was well-known for her service to the Jewish community, died on October 29, 2015; and

WHEREAS, a native of Butrimantz, Lithuania, Edna Ipson worked as a sales clerk in a leather shop; with the invasion of Lithuania by Russian and Nazi German forces in the early 1940s, she and her family were ordered into a ghetto along with 27,000 other Jews in the city; and

WHEREAS, enduring great hardships, Edna Ipson and the other residents of the ghetto, which was eventually converted into a concentration camp, were forced to build an airfield for the Nazis; she and members of her family escaped from the camp in 1943, after the Nazis began the systematic execution of prisoners; and

WHEREAS, Edna Ipson and her family spent six months hiding in a four-foot by nine-foot by 12-foot pit, dug in the potato field of a sympathetic farmer; by the time the country was liberated, 16 people were living in the hiding space; and

WHEREAS, Edna Ipson immigrated to America to live with family members in the Richmond area; she and her husband purchased a gas station, and she became the first woman in the city to work as a gas station attendant; and

WHEREAS, a beloved member of the community, Edna Ipson was known for her bright smile and was named as the top service station salesperson in Richmond; she later served as president of the family’s Fleet Supply Warehouse until her retirement in the 1990s; and

WHEREAS, Edna Ipson served the Jewish community as a member of the Hadassah women’s group and was recognized as a Lion of Judah by the Jewish Community Federation of Richmond for her generosity in service to others; she was an exceptional baker and provided delicious pastries for events at Temple Beth-El; and

WHEREAS, predeceased by her husband, Israel, Edna Ipson will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by her son, Jay, and his family and numerous other family members and friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Delegates hereby note with great sadness the loss of Edna B. Ipson, a Holocaust survivor and an admired member of the Richmond community; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of Edna B. Ipson as an expression of the House of Delegates’ respect for her memory.