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2022 SESSION


HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 210
Celebrating the life of Ruby Holland Walden.

 

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 11, 2022

 

WHEREAS, Ruby Holland Walden, a highly admired community leader and passionate advocate for people in need, died on December 22, 2020; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Walden was born in the Holland community when it was still part of the former Nansemond County, and she was a lifelong resident of Nansemond County and Suffolk; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Walden attended a two-room school house for her primary education and graduated from the Nansemond County Training School; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Walden and her husband, Frank, established their own contracting business that specialized in brick masonry and operated for 39 years, while working on their family-owned 100-acre farm; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Walden was a champion for education and played a vital role in the racial integration of public schools in Nansemond County; and

WHEREAS, in the 1960s, Ruby Walden helped organize the Southeastern Tidewater Opportunity Project, which administered federal funding for educational, housing, health, employment, and human service projects throughout the region, and she became the coordinator of the first Head Start program in the county; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Walden was a member of more than 30 boards, commissions, organizations, study groups, and task forces at the local, regional, state, and national level; she inspired others to become more knowledgeable about civics and take a more active role in community leadership; and

WHEREAS, among many awards and honors throughout her life, Ruby Walden received the Athena Award from the Suffolk Division of the Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce and the Senior Health Hero Award from Bon Secours Health Services and Senior Services of Southeastern Virginia; and

WHEREAS, Ruby Walden began to cultivate her deep and abiding faith at a young age and enjoyed fellowship and worship with the community as a lifelong member of Mount Sinai Baptist Church, where she had held many leadership positions over the years and had many contributions to almost every church ministry; and

WHEREAS, predeceased by her husband, Frank, Ruby Walden will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by her children, Janice, Olin, Sandra, and Pearl, and their families, 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 Ruby Holland Walden, a vibrant member of the Suffolk community who touched countless lives through her advocacy; 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 Ruby Holland Walden as an expression of the House of Delegates’ respect for her memory.