Virginia Williams Burnside was born on Jan. 7, 1916, in Enterprise, Miss., to Zan and Amanda Williams. She passed away peacefully at the Olive Branch Care Center in Tallulah on June 24, 2010.

She was a graduate of Enterprise High School and Bowling Green Business College in Bowling Green, Ken. Upon graduation, she came to Newellton, La., where she was employed by Service Novelty Company, owned by her brother, Robert “Buster” Williams. She met and married Ben Patton Burnside in 1938 and they established a home on Franklin Plantation, where she lived until her death.

She was a member of the Newellton Union Church, the Ladies Auxiliary and Quilting Group and Newellton Garden Club. She was instrumental in publishing the Newellton Garden Club Cookbook.

She was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years; her parents; two brothers; two sisters; and a son-in-law.

She is survived by her son Ben Patton Burnside Jr. and his wife, Carolyn; daughters, Helen Hester Kifer and her husband, Nathan Odell “Sonny,” of Newellton, Amanda Burnside Dean and her husband, George, of Monroe; two brothers-in-law, Frank Robinson Burnside of Newellton and Dr. Wade Walker Burnside of Fayetteville, Ark.; nine grandchildren, James Coates Head and wife Allison, Walker Burnside Head and wife Candice, Dr. Virginia Burnside Coreil and husband Kemp, Courtney Dean Murray and husband John, Hester Jane Burnside, Virginia Burnside Dean Tucker and husband Chuck, Ben Patton Burnside III and wife Jennifer, Mary Claude Kifer Glass and husband Patrick, Benjamin Bryan Dean and wife Katie; great-grandchildren, Amanda Jane Head, Sarah Elizabeth Head, Thomas Hays Coreil, Clayton Walker Head, Mary Kifer Glass, John Walker Head, Georgia Wells Burnside, Miller Kathryn Glass, Ella Patton Burnside, Camille Burnside Coreil, Charles Irving Tucker III, Catherine Virginia Coreil, George Dean Tucker, Benjamin Burnside Tucker and George Walker Dean.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of Crothers-Glenwood Funeral Home in Tallulah. Services will be at 2 p.m. June 26 at Newellton Union Church with the Revs. Clyde Webber, Larry Foster and John Wilkins officiating.

Grandsons will serve as pallbearers.

The family would like to thank the staff of Olive Branch and Patients Choice Hospice, and devoted caregivers DeLoice Carter, Denny Hudson, Pauline Harvey and Wanda Saldana.

The family will receive friends at Franklin Plantation following the service.

Memorials may be made to Newellton Union Church, P.O. Box 265, Newellton, LA 71357.