Virginia Lee Carson Garver

is honored with a Medium Paver from Jim and Melinda Garver, Susan and Harvey Peterson, Lucy and Chilson Cook, Frank and Ginny Garver, Francie and Bill Copeland, and Dan and Sue Garver

The Plaza of Heroines honors women who are admired and emulated for their achievements and qualities. Virginia Garver is such a person. Everyone who meets her is impressed and those who know her wish they had her character. She has influenced and inspired countless children and adults, and has been a moving force in her community, schools, business, and church.

Virginia is a native Wichitan and lives here now, but her greatest impact has been in Greenwood and Elk counties and in Severy, Kansas, where she lived for nearly 60 years. She and her husband raised six children and were mainstays of the community during their time in Severy.

She was born December 10, 1919, to Frank Lee and Carrie May Price Carson, the second of six children. Her parents came from Ashland, Kansas, where her grandparents had been pioneers in the settling of our state. Frank Carson was a prominent Wichita banker. Inspired by her uncle Dr. Paul Carson, Virginia always wanted to be a children’s nurse. She graduated from Wichita North High School and attended Sweet Briar Women’s College in the state of Virginia and the University of Kansas. In 1939, she transferred to Children’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, and graduated as a Registered Nurse in 1942.

Virginia married fellow Wichitan James L. Garver on October 29, 1942, in Richmond, Virginia, where Jim was stationed with the U.S. Army, and they lived there until the end of World War II. In 1947, Virginia’s father and Jim purchased the Severy State Bank and the Garvers, who now had two children, moved to Severy, Kansas. Jim ran the bank for 42 years and served his community in almost every way imaginable, including mayor, fire chief, and ambulance driver. They eventually had four more children, so Virginia had her hands full as a supporting wife and nurturing mother, whose children all thought they were the favorite one.

But Virginia Garver was a nurse, in a town with no doctor or other medical services. She was the one people called when people were sick or injured or needed to be given a shot or other medical treatment. Someone once called her the Florence Nightingale of Greenwood County. She was also a leader in all the clubs, civic groups, and church activities. She was a director of the bank, served a term on the school board, worked on the steering committee for a new county hospital, and helped her husband push for municipal water and sewer systems and a unified school district. She was president of the Severy Methodist Church Women’s Society for eight years, and raised enough money to completely remodel the church. She did these things to help other people and make their world a better place to live.

By 1975, Virginia had only her youngest son still at home. The other five children had graduated from high school, gone to Kansas State University, married and were starting families of their own. Instead of slowing down, Virginia renewed her nursing license and went to work as a Registered Nurse at the Greenwood County Hospital in Eureka. She was 55 years old and had six grandchildren.

She had been nursing ever since she left Boston—more than 30 years—now she had an official position. She didn’t have to work, but Virginia had always led an active life and this was something she wanted to do. She also began water skiing about this time. At the hospital she worked the 3 to 11 p.m. shift, weekends and holidays because she wanted the younger nurses to be able to spend more time with their families. She kept on for 17 years, finally retiring in 1992 at age 72. As always, she combined compassion and firmness to touch the lives of all around her—patients, co-workers, and the community in general.

In 2009, as she celebrates her 90th birthday, Virginia is still helping other people and setting the standard for her family, which now includes more than 30 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She hasn’t slowed down much. She volunteers for the Red Cross and the First Presbyterian Church, goes to an exercise class twice a week, and keeps tabs on her family and a growing number of old and new friends. Whenever there is an event in their lives, it’s almost certain they will hear from Virginia—usually in person—with congratulations, encouragement, or condolences; and many times a cake or loaf of banana bread. One of her newer friends recently summed up what people have known about her for generations: She never complains; she is always cheerful, and she genuinely cares about other people.

Virginia Garver is a wonderful example and a model of the person we should all strive to be. She is truly a Heroine for the Ages.