Wiliam Marion Lightsey

b. 8 February 1911, d. 1 June 2010
  • Wiliam Marion Lightsey was born on 8 February 1911 in Fairfax, Allendale County, South Carolina.
  • He married Eleanor Marie Weiler, daughter of Herold James Weiler and Ruby Dawson Houston, circa 1935.
  • Wiliam Marion Lightsey became a widower at the 24 March 2002 death of his wife Eleanor Marie Weiler.
  • The following appeared on 29 March 2002 in The Washington Post: Eleanor Weiler Lightsey, 87, a secretary at Arlington elementary schools from the early 1950s until she retired in 1979, died March 24 at the Halquist Memorial Hospice Center. She had Alzheimer's disease.
         She had been a secretary at Arlington's Glencarlyn and Woodmont elementary schools.
         She was a native of Wichita Falls, Tex., and moved to the Washington area in 1941, settling in Arlington.
         She attended George Washington University.
         Mrs. Lightsey was a member of Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church in Arlington and Peace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Alexandria.
         Survivors include her husband of 66 years, William Marion Lightsey of Arlington; three daughters, Marie Wilson of Westbrook, Conn., Eleanor Okey of Hilton Head Island, S.C., and Louise Marshall of McLean; a brother; six grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren.
  • Wiliam Marion Lightsey died on 1 June 2010 at age 99 in McLean, Fairfax County, Virginia.
  • He was interred at Fairfax Cemetery, Fairfax, Allendale County, South Carolina.
  • The following appeared in The Hampton County Guardian: (Fairfax) William Marion Lightsey, 99, died Tuesday, June 1, 2010 in Arlington, Va.
         Mr. Lightsey was born on Feb. 8, 1911 in Fairfax. He was a son of the late William Martin [sic] and Henrietta Copeland Lightsey. He was employed by the Department of Agriculture in Washington. After early retirement, he worked for Lutheran Church of America for three years as a Fundraising Consultant in the southeast. He served on the Church Councils of several congregations. During 1965-69, he served as a Representative in the Virginia House of Delegates, where he pressed for the establishment of the state Community College system and creation of Virginia Outdoor Recreation Commission, which provided a meaningful system of state parks and was the agency that established Greenland preservation, to increase lands for public parks and recreation. Mr. Lightsey was active in civic and political work in the Arlington area during the 1950s, 60s and 70s, beginning with his work for the Virginia Committee to preserve Public Schools and as a member of the Executive Board of the Virginia Congress of PTAs. He was a leader in fighting the "massive resistance" laws which would have closed public schools and denied state funding should they desegregate. Mr. Lightsey's life work was culminated with his selection as the Executive Director of the newly formed Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, where he served from 1963 to 1975, when he retired. Under his direction, many of the regional parks in northern Virginia were developed, increasing the acreage of parks and woodland from 4000 acres in 1963 to over 7,000 acres upon his retirement.
         Surviving are: Three daughters, Etta Marie Wilson of Westbrook, Conn; Eleanor Weller (Charles O'key) of Hilton Head; Francis Louise (Kenneth Marshall) of McLean, Va; five grandchildren, Christopher Brian Haulsee and wife, Linda, of Hampton; William Scott Haulsee and wife, Ellen, of Pinehurst, N.C; Mark William Wilson of St. John, USVI; Cynthia Marie Marshall of Columbia, MD and her husband, Jason Roberts; Emily Ann Marshall and her husband, Deniz Selman, of Philadelphia, Pa; a brother-in-law, Thomas S. Rice of Columbia; six great grandchildren, several nieces and nephews.
         Mr. Lightsey was preceded in death by his wife of 66 years in 2002, Eleanor Marie Weiler Lightsey; two brothers, Judson Hanahan Lightsey and his wife Gertrude; Jack Talley Lightsey and his wife Ruth; and one sister, Frances Louise Rice.
         Memorial services were held Friday, June 4 at Peace Lutheran Church in Alexandria, Va. with burial in the Fairfax Cemetery on Monday, June 7.
         In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be sent to Trinity Lutheran Church, P.O. Box 1111, Fairfax, SC 29827 or to the Fairfax Cemetery Trust Account, Drawer 820, Fairfax, SC 29827.
         Keith Smith Funeral Service of Allendale was in charge of the arrangements.
  • The following appeared on 6 June 2010 in The Washington Post: Bill Lightsey, 99, a Northern Virginia school activist who later worked for a Virginia park authority and was a Virginia state legislator, died June 1 [2010] of a heart attack at the Sylvestery assisted-living facility in McLean. He also had dementia.
         Mr. Lightsey, a longtime Arlington resident, was a district director of the Virginia Congress of PTAs in the late 1950s, when several state schools threatened to shut down if forced to desegregate. He helped organize PTA protests and petitions against school closings.
         William Marion Lightsey was born in Fairfax, S.C., and attended the Citadel, a military college in Charleston, S.C.
         For nearly 20 years, he worked as a planning officer with the Agriculture Department. In the late 1950s, he started working with the Northern Virginia PTA. He resigned in 1960 and spent three years as a field director for the Lutheran Laymen's Movement. From 1963 until he retired in 1976, he was a staff member of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority.
         Mr. Lightsey served as a Democratic member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1965 to 1969.
         He was a longtime member of Resurrection Evangelical Lutheran Church in Arlington and later joined Peace Lutheran Church in Alexandria.
         His wife of 66 years, Eleanor Weiler Lightsey, died in 2002.
         Survivors include three daughters, Etta Wilson of Westbrook, Conn., Eleanor O'Key of Hilton Head Island, S.C., and Frances Marshall of McLean; five grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.
  • Last Edited: 27 May 2015

Family: Eleanor Marie Weiler b. 27 June 1914, d. 24 March 2002