Virgie Lee Carr Walton

Virgie Lee Carr Walton was born to William Cranston Carr and Johnnie Bell (Thomas) Carr on January 15, 1955. “Sis” as she was affectionately called by her mother’s side of the family, grew up in Break Creek in Irving, TX, with her older sisters, Vellia and Mary, and her brother, James, and her little sister, Mayola. Bear Creek was a special place and, in her opinion, the best place to grow up.

During her childhood, Virgie went to J.O. Davis, and decades later, her granddaughter, Aubrei, attended the same school, causing Virgie to recall and delight in her school memories. She attended Irving High School, where she was an accomplished runner. One of her favorite high school highlights was dashing across the finish line in second place and capturing a spot in the Irving News. In 1974, she graduated high school after marrying her first husband and having her daughter, Tanaka Caraway. In 1982, she had her youngest daughter, Tonya Lewis. Almost twenty years later in 2000, she married Henry Walton, and they stayed together until he passed in 2021.

Virgie was a small woman with a big personality, holding her own in the male-dominated electronic and mechanical assembly field. She often would recall how still recovering from Tonya’s birth merely days before, she interviewed for a job at Rockwell International that significantly impacted her life. There, she learned many life lessons that she passed on to her daughters by subjecting them to hours of talk radio and random yet useful information she just had to share that Tanaka affectionately characterized as useless information number 3,224 and counting. (Tanaka and Tonya imagine Mom seeing this from heaven and laughing.)

Virgie loved family above all else and enjoyed hosting Thanksgiving dinners and playing Phase 10 with her daughters and nephews. She lit up around family and often beamed joyfully at gatherings like the Thomas Family Thanksgiving celebration in 2019 and the Carr family reunions in Arkansas and Ohio. She was an active mother and grandmother, shutting Tanaka from dance recitals and cheerleading practices, coaching Tonya’s soccer team, picking up Aubrei from school, watching Caleb’s birth, and helping her great nephews Dominic and Donovan learn to drive.

Virgie was a woman who met every obstacle without fear. On her birthday in 2013, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and battled cancer and won. She sailed through her chemotherapy, radiation, and double mastectomy with astounding strength. She even came home and moved furniture after her first chemotherapy treatment, much to the shock of her doctors but not to the surprise of her daughters. For several years following her cancer-free diagnosis, she attended annual cancer survivor's events that she happily participated in with her family and friends.

Throughout her life, Virgie was constantly active, walking her beloved dog, Pepper, for miles, taking Caleb on nature walks on the trails near her home, or playing soccer at the age of 50. She was even the team’s goalie, an impressive feat for a woman who was only 5 feet and a half inch tall. Also, Virgie took pride in being skilled with her hands, and it wasn’t uncommon for her to climb on the roof to inspect shingles, scale ladders to change ceiling fans, or call her brother, James, for guidance on how to sand down and texture walls.

Her life after breast cancer was a blessing but short-lived as she was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), a neurological disease similar to Parkinson’s Disease, in 2019, although the signs were there years earlier. As with any challenge she had faced, she prepared to fight the effects of PSP aggressively. She exercised by joining a workout group at her local YMCA, cycled at home, attended her local CurePSP support group online, and participated in the Parkinson’s Voice Project therapy sessions. She made most of her time—going to the Carr family birthday celebration in Arkansas, setting sail on a family cruise and trips to the beach, spending time with her beloved aunts and cousins, and living to see the birth of her two youngest grandsons, Cranston and Nolan.

Virgie passed away peacefully on September 17, 2024, with Tanaka there with her to the very end.

She is survived by her daughters, Tanaka Shirley and Tonya Hudson (Steven); her granddaughter, Aubrei Scott (30); her grandsons, Caleb Fennix (17), Cranston Hudson (4), and Nolan Hudson (9 months). She was preceded in death by her parents, William and Johnnie Carr; her sisters, Vellia Hale, Mary Chivers, and Mayola Carr, and her brother, James Carr.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the CurePSP Quality of Life Respite Grant, which provides direct support to those living with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP), corticobasal degeneration (CBD) and multiple system atrophy (MSA). Virgie was a recipient of the respite grant, for which she was grateful.

Respite fund donation information: https://give.curepsp.org/give/468997/#!/donation/checkout