Virginia Mae Sims

A private memorial service for Virginia Mae Sims was held on Friday, November 27, 2020 at 11:00 a. m. at the L.E. Black Phillip & Holden Funeral Home.

Virginia Mae Sims, 87, of Youngstown, OH, transitioned from this earthly life and was escorted by a host of angels to her heavenly eternal home on Friday, November 20, 2020, with her loving family by her side.

Virginia who was born November 24, 1932 in Youngstown, Ohio, is the daughter of James Henry and Rebecca Custard Eldridge, the eldest daughter in a family of twelve children.

She was a former and faithful member of Antioch Baptist Church, where her father-in-law, the late Rev. Frank Sims was pastor. She sang in the choir from her youth, for many years. She also enjoyed the TV ministry of the Rev. Gene Ewing and the music ministry of Bishop Marvin Sapp.

Virginia was educated in the Youngstown school system and attended The Rayen School. She retired after working 29 years for North Side Forum Health, where she was employed as a radiology attendant for 24 years and retired from the North Surgery Department in 1997.

She was a member of the NAACP, AARP and a member of a ladies social and birthday club known as the Cohesive Club, that she enjoyed, with a group of friends and co-workers. Some of her favorite pastimes were reading, sewing, gardening and social events and activities.

Virginia was the epitome of the Proverbs 31 woman. She was a warm, loving and generous person and loved being a homemaker and held a special devotion to all of her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and friends of her children, welcoming everyone into her engaging home.

Virginia travelled extensively and lived on several military bases in the United States with her now deceased husband, Douglas Sims, an Air Force career man. She and Douglas were married November 13, 1950 and were the proud parents of six amazing children and grands. In her travels, she enjoyed various cultures while on military assignments, living in different cities in the US, including Wyoming, South Dakota, Hawaii and Michigan. Upon Douglas’s twenty year retirement in 1967, they returned to their roots in Youngstown, OH.

Virginia leaves to forever cherish her precious memories, her children, the heartbeat of her life, four daughters, Jeanette “Cathy” Cook, Norfolk, VA, JoAnn Elaine Robinson (Carrington), Boardman, OH, Tammie Dee Burgan, Yuma, AZ and Tanya Mims, Youngstown, OH, with whom she made her home and seventeen grandchildren, Tamara Ginell Sims, Youngstown, OH and Travis Alexander Sims, Lexington KY, both of whom she reared, Brian D. Cook, Youngstown, OH, Kristin Rose Allen (Fabian), Chesapeake, VA, Jimese Evette McGraff (Michael ), Tacoma, WA, Coti M. Robinson, Boardman, OH, Caryn K. Robinson, Norfolk, VA, Garrick Sims, Phoenix, AZ, Christa Jeanette Hooker (Tyler), Yuma AZ, Cierra Lynette Sims, Yuma, AZ, Charese Ann Sims, Youngstown, OH, Davina Mims, Austin, TX, Charles Arthur Mims, Atlanta, GA, Lakisha Simone Sims, Newport News, VA, and Tamika Shantay Telfare, Newport News,VA. She also leaves her precious twenty three great grandchildren and three great, great grandchildren.

Leaving cherished siblings, mourning her great loss, are three brothers, John Davis Eldridge (Ratana), Tacoma, WA, LeRoy Benjamin Eldridge, Hawthorne, NV, and Frederic B. Eldridge, Willoughby Hills, OH, and two sisters, Verne R. Alt, Youngstown, OH and Luvennia Dixon (McLelan), Duarte, CA and a host of extended family and friends.

Virginia was preceded in death by her parents, her devoted husband Douglas, and with many heartbreaks over the years in the loss of a daughter, Brenda Joy Sims, a son, Douglas Sims, Jr., grandsons, Jarin Douglas Sims and Dirk C. Robinson and a great granddaughter, Jazene U. Peterson. Preceding her also in death were other siblings she dearly loved, six brothers, James Henry Eldridge, Ehrman Howard Eldridge, William Howard Eldridge, Henry Allen Eldridge, Leon Anderson Eldridge and Lawrence Wayne Eldridge.

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