Margaret Harrod Weaver

HAMPTON – Mrs. Margaret Harrod Weaver, having endured a long illness, gently slipped away early morning Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008, at the Regency Health Care Center in Yorktown.
She was the daughter of the late Dorothy Dearing and Fred Harrod Sr., born May 1, 1924, in Newport News and raised by maternal parents aunt and uncle Charles and Berke Banks. During her childhood, she enjoyed playing the piano and singing at her home church, Antioch Baptist of East End Newport News. After her elementary years at Booker T. Washington, in Newport News, she received special schooling at Mary Potter, a private High School in North Carolina, while staying with her Aunt Ruth. After several courses at Jessie Rattley’s Peninsula Business School, she went on to receive her Bachelors Degree at Virginia Union in Richmond and additional education at Hampton Institute towards her Masters Degree. She met and later married the late Walter M. Weaver on Sept. 7, 1951, and together enjoyed their home, longtime neighbors and friends in the Aberdeen section of Hampton.
She enjoyed her many years as a kindergarten and elementary school teacher and often reflected upon her latter years at Dunbar Elementary School in Newport News. Her love for teaching motivated her to continue teaching neighborhood children to read, even after her retirement, until her health deteriorated. Prior to health failures, she enjoyed interactions amongst Eastern Star and Sorority sisters, sightseeing travels to visit her relatives and friends, but nothing more pleasing than her passionate shopping sprees and Picadilly meals.
Preceded in death by her husband, Walter Weaver and her lifetime closest friend twin sister, ‘Pinkie’ Harrod Deas, she now leaves to cherish her memories her stepmother, Fannie Harrod, of Philadelphia, Pa.; her maternal brothers, Edward Dearing of Hampton and Alonzo Dearing of San Diego, Calif.; her paternal sister, Sylvia Harrod Blackwell of California; paternal brother, Fred Harrod Jr. of New Jersey; brother-in-law, Shefford Keene Sr. of Hampton; aunt, Melinee H. Yerell of Maryland; nieces, Alona Edmonds of Dinwiddie, Gwendolyn Smith of Hampton, Valerie Parker of Newport News, Gail Lattimore of Richmond, Carolyn Peacock of Philadelphia, Elizabeth Rouse of Yorktown, Mary Burton of Richmond, Gloria K. Jones of Hampton; nephews, Edward L. Dearing Jr. of California, Samuel Ray Richardson of North Carolina, Thaddeus Richardson and Lawrence Dearing of Hawaii, Frederick Dearing and Wayne Keene of Hampton, Nathan Dearing of Williamsburg, Fred Harrod III, Sherman Washington, Christian and Matthew Dearing, all of Atlanta, Ga., Shefford Keene Jr., Demetrius and Willie Dearing Jr., all of Newport News, Mark and Tyrone Dearing of New York; a host of other relatives, special and close friends.
Services will be provided by Riverside-Altmeyer Funeral Home, 7415 River Road, Newport News, at 1 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 25. Burial at Hampton Memorial Gardens. Family to meet back at the funeral home for the reception. Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Monday, November 24, at the funeral home.