Virginia Lee McCrary Jeffers Tomlinson, of Rogersville, died Monday, December 30, 2024, at North Alabama Medical Center at the age of 85. Visitation will be Saturday from 1:00 p.m.– 2:00 p.m., at Rogersville Funeral Home. Funeral service will follow immediately in the chapel with Jamey Cosby officiating. Burial will be in McCartney Cemetery. Pallbearers will be Bob McCrary, Rodney Hammond, Jerry Clemmons, Mark Hammond, Tony McCrary and Michael McCrary. She was a graduate of LCHS, a member of Rogersville United Methodist Church and retired from NASA, Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL.
Virginia’s career at the NASA-Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) spanned 35 years from 1960 to 1995. She transferred from Army Redstone Arsenal to the newly established NASA-MSFC in 1960, as part of the Wernher von Braun Rocket Team that designed, built and launched the Saturn V super heavy-lift launch vehicle that propelled the Apollo spacecraft to the Moon in 1969. During her NASA career, Virginia was a team member of the Saturn SII/SIVB Project, Skylab/Spacelab Project, Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster Project and the Reusable Solid Rocket Motor Project. She received many awards during her career, including the Apollo Achievement Award, First Shuttle Flight Achievement Award, the cherished Silver Snoopy Award, the Manned Flight Awareness Honoree Award, as well as many Outstanding Performance and Group Achievement Awards.
Within the family Viriginia was known as the “great communicator”, she was always the one available to talk to when you needed someone to listen, say a prayer, give advice or spread word to the rest of the family. We have lost our rock that we could always depend on for whatever need we might have, the one who would tell us we could weather any storm as long as we all stuck together. She loved her family fiercely and was always encouraging us to pursue our dreams.
Virginia was preceded in death by her parents, Homer G. and Oshia Wade McCrary, husbands, Jerry Gene Jeffers and Charles Robert Tomlinson, son, Jerry Steven Jeffers, siblings, Leon (Dorothy) McCrary, Mildred (James) Hammond, Edward (Bonnie) McCrary, Millinea (Hank) Hammond, brother-in-law, John Tomlinson.
She is survived by: daughter, Stephanie (Travis) Hendrix; daughter-in-law, Sherry Jeffers; grandchildren, Jenny (Brandon) Hughes, Julie (Chris) Cook, Staci (Alan) Sheffield, Shane Knox, Shawn Knox, Nicholas Hendrix, Lauren (Trent) Williams, Charli Hendrix; great grandchildren, Bryar, Cooper, John, Barrett, Alex, Lincoln, Cordelia, sister, Joyce Tomlinson; best friend for over 78 years Ann Sewell Davis; and numerous nieces and nephews.
