Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1916-04-29
TRIBUTE PAID TO THE
LATE MRS. NJ SHERRY

/ At Memorial Services Held Yesterday
Afternoon at Episcopal Parish
House.
/ Yesterday afternoon the Daughters
Of the Con. cdcracy held q most bcft-
! ting memorial service at the parish
4 house Of the Trinity Episcopal church
4 for the late Mrs Virginia Faulkner
\ McShcrry.
n The following memorial was read:
Il Mrs. Virginia Faulkner McShcrry,
/ wife Of Or. James Whann McShcrry,
II entered last evening into eternal rest.
1 With the father light of a winters
day, GODS finger touched her and
|! she slept" Her death removes one
|! OF the most unique, commanding. yet
Il altogether charming personalities the
I community has ever known She was
I born and reared at Boydville, the his
toric old family home erected in 1912
/ by her maternal grandfather. Cen.
\ Elisha Boyd She was educated in
H schools Of the highest standing in
4 Virginia, and later during the resi-
1 dence abroad Of her father, the late
|! Charles James Faulkner. as Envoy
\ Extraordinary and Minister Pleni-
! potentiary TO France, she took spp-
| cial training in Paris. II was posi-
\ bly, her sojonrn in France, at an age
when most impressionable, that ac-
! counts in part for the bright, cheerful.
| vivacious temperament she possessed
no less than for that substrattum OF
serious purpose that characterized
! bon hoIA 1, t,,t., L.
ged honesty and logged persistence
of the Colonial Pioneer with the pro-
verbal chivalry and pleasing eXuber-
ance of the French it is not surprising
that she was mistress of so many
qualities of leadership. Her natural
endowment of strong intellectually
was enriched by constant cultivation
! of all those quiet graces which make
for the perfection of true WOmanhOOd,
and she came to her departure in the
! enjoyment of a confidence and esteem
! which are ever the reward of real
worth and fiedlity. She was, indeed,
a superior woman, thoughtful, consid-
crate. atfectionate, kind: yet frank,
fearless, aggressive, firm; a woman
OF strong convictions, with a gift of
speech that gave them forceful eX-
preston. With laudible ambition
to aid in the solution of many of the
| questions affecting her sex in the
larger fields of endeavor, she was
Withal a woman of the home She low
j ed her home; she made it real
home. Brought up within the borders
of the Old South. saturated with its
history and traditions, she dispensed
about her hearthstone hospitality
| INDUCED only in that land of poetry
! and song, and welded about her ties
of personal friendships that not only
! frightened her life but will continue
to diffuse a fragrance that will linger
| the while cher sacred dust shall slum-
Der in the shadowland of dreamless
sleep"
Always prominent in every worthy
undertaking, that which perhaps most
| appealed to her was the alienation
| OF the hardships suffered by many
| of the survivors of the great conflict
! that devastated the fair southland a
half century ago. And this is not
| strange,-she was soldiers daugh-
ter, her father having been attached
| to the staff of Gen. Stonewall Jack
/
both her brothers. Judge E. Boyd
Faulkner and Elk. Sen Chas. J. Faux
ner, having distinguished themselves
in the Confederate Army; she was a
soldiers wife-her surviving husband
! having rendered conspicuous service
in defense of the Confederacy. Loyal
| ty to the Lost Cause" was her watch
word; no greater happiness crowned
her life than when labOr'ng in its be-
! half. In recognition of this devotion
she was repeatedly honored by the
! home chapter of the United Daughters
| of the Confederacy as its presiding
officer, by the state division in the
same capacity, and by the national
organization first as corresponding
secretary and later by two successive
terms as president general In all
these positions she demonstrated
such a familiarity with parliamentary
procedure, and brought to the dis
charge OF her various duties such an
exalted conception of the sacredness
of a public trust, that she became
known as one of the really great ex-
ecutives in her sphere.
Mrs. McSherry was passionately
fond OF music. She reveled in it. Not
ing her expression under the spell f
a skillful rendition of some favorite
production, it seemed that new de-
lights and beauties opened up before
her every instant. In fancy she SEEM
ed to pursue them. to try to seize
them. but before she could grasp
them, new and newer ones flowed in
just like waves of the sea which roll
on and on from infnity." She gave
this passion full play in her home
and among intimate acquaintance,
and for years employed her own tai
ent in training and directing the choir
of the church in which she Worship
ped. Never was a labor of love more
freely and ungrudgingly bestowed.
Her charities were limited only by
her opportunities, and are touchingly
attested by the manifold evidences of
l., 1 h. 1,as,,