Virginia Lee Ashburn Simpson of Weems, VA, and Chevy Chase, MD, passed away peacefully on March 4, 2024, surrounded by her family.
Known to many as “Virginia Lee”, “Ginny Lee” or “Lee Lee”, Mrs. Simpson was born to Virginia Elizabeth Walker and Marion Lemuel Ashburn at Medical College of Virginia Hospital in Richmond, VA, on November 6, 1944. Virginia grew up in Weems with her sister Frances Bell Ashburn, brother Marion Oscar Ashburn Jr., and, later, half-brother Lemuel Ashburn.
After losing her mother in 1948, Oscar and Minnie Ashburn, Virginia’s grandparents, played a vital role in her upbringing. Virginia spent much time at her grandfather’s and father’s oyster business, Oscar Ashburn & Son, where they canned oysters under the brand name, “The Guiding Light”. She would often reflect on the great memories in Weems, which included listening to the oyster shuckers sing hymns, walks to the Davis Supermarket and Dameron & Bro.’s Store with friends, and sitting with her grandfather and his trained pet goose, “Tom”, who picked beans off the pole and spit them into a bucket.
