Virginia Hearon Meldrum

April 21, 1936 - February 16, 2021

Clara Virginia “Jentzie” Hearon Meldrum died peacefully at home on Tuesday, February 16, 2021, of complications from congestive heart failure and post-polio syndrome. She was eighty-four years old, and lived in Powder Springs, Georgia since 1971. Known as “Jennie Claire” in her childhood, Virginia was born in Bishopville, South Carolina, on April 21, 1936, the only child of William Laverne Hearon and Cornelia Rebecca Stuckey Hearon. She graduated from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, with a degree in Sociology and Psychology. She met her husband, William H. Meldrum, Jr. at Furman and they married on September 15, 1957, at Bishopville Presbyterian Church. With forty years in the book business, “Miss Virginia” and her stories were legendary. She worked with an impressive collection of authors at Village Book Store by Emory University, Rich’s at Lenox, Office Sales & Service in Marietta, and finally at her own bookstore, The Owl’s Tree in Powder Springs. Virginia wrote a books column for the Marietta Daily Journal and other local newspapers, taught creative writing, and edited books for several Georgia authors. Her innovative Authors In Schools program brought local and nationally recognized authors, illustrators and storytellers to over one hundred thousand schoolchildren in nine states. She assisted Mrs. Rosalyn Carter in starting the Georgia Authors Collection at the GA Governor’s Mansion. Promoting local authors, children’s literature and the love of reading were Virginia’s lifelong passions. She was a member of Austell Presbyterian Church, where she founded a grief support ministry, Lifting in Love, and served as an elder. She was preceded in death by her husband, William H. Meldrum, Jr, in 2005, and is survived by her sons William Howard Meldrum III of Pendleton, South Carolina, and Robert Wade Meldrum of Marietta, Georgia, and her daughters Virginia Anne Meldrum Galloway of Hiram, Georgia, and Elizabeth Hearon Meldrum Lisle of Powder Springs, Georgia, ten grandchildren, and thirteen great-grandchildren.. A private memorial service will be held on Saturday, February 20, 2021, at 3:00 p.m., at Austell Presbyterian Church. The service will be livestreamed at www.facebook.com/AustellPresbyterian. She will be interred in April at Bishopville Presbyterian Church, next to her parents and her husband Bill. Please contact Mayes Ward-Dobbins Macland Chapel with any questions. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to Austell Presbyterian Church, or The Orange Duffel Bag Initiative.