Marion Grey Burroughs Trusch, the official Mayor of Bavon, departed this life on Sunday, May 4, 2014, at Riverside-Mathews Convalescent Center.
Marion Grey was born April 21, 1920 in her beloved Bavon in the year that women gained the right to vote. At age 94, she lived a full and rewarding life that saw women vote and even run for Vice President of the United States. After graduating from New Point High School as Valedictorian, she went on to the University of Mary Washington to major in Political Science. Her first teaching years (1941-1949) were spent in Princess Anne County.
In 1949, she married Everett Trusch and returned to her beloved New Point. In 1954, she began a substitute teaching job at Mathews High School that lasted until her retirement in 1982. In all, Marion Grey spent over 30 years in education. At first she taught students business courses, but then she began teaching her real passion, United States Government to high school seniors. If you ask any of her former government students, they assure you that she wrote the Constitution. Through the years, former students often dropped by to tell of their accomplishments or political ambitions.
After her retirement, she became active in many community affairs including delivering “Meals on Wheels,” Mathews Historical Society, Mathews Woman’s Club and the Mathews Yacht Club. She was an advocate for the preservation of the New Point Lighthouse. She was a member of Oriental Chapter No. 30, OES.
Marion Grey was an avid collector of campaign memorabilia and let it be known to one and all that she was a Democrat. In addition, she enjoyed reading historical biographies, was a great admirer of her two favorite Presidents, Thomas Jefferson and Harry Truman, enjoyed talking to visiting politicians and relished a good debate even to the end. Marion Grey was a member of Beulah United Methodist Church.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Everett Trusch, and her parents, Norman and Albirda Burroughs.
She is survived by first cousins, Alice Armistead Lewis of Newport News, Charles Ben Haywood (Eileen) of Bavon, Calvin Haywood (Christine) of Cobbs Creek, and numerous cousins, especially caregiver, Susan Broaddus. Also, she is survived by her husband’s niece, Ida Trusch, and nephew, Jimmy Maggard.
Her family would like to thank the staff of Riverside-Mathews Convalescent Center for seven years of exceptional care.
Her family received friends on Monday, May 5, 2014, from 4-7 p.m. at Foster-Faulkner Funeral Home, Mathews. A funeral service was held on Tuesday, May 6, 2014, at 2 p.m. at Beulah United Methodist Church, New Point, with burial in Friendship Cemetery, Susan, Va.
Memorial donations may be made to Beulah United Methodist Church, c/o Harlene Pritchett, 1061 Lighthouse Road, Bavon, Va. 23138 or to the charity of your choice.