Ramona Reynolds Hurd, 88 passed away on July 26, 2024 in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She was born in Ashland, Kentucky, on July 19, 1936. As a military child, she moved throughout her younger years from California to Norfolk, Virginia arriving in 1950. She was a loving wife for 60 years, a mother, mother-in-law, grandmother and great grandmother, is preceded in death by her husband, Charles Edmond Hurd, her parents, William Clarence Reynolds and Hazel Conley Reynolds and one sister, Delores Reynolds (Dee) Crane.
She is survived by three children Martha Hurd Wickre (Barry), Dr. Susan Hurd Mitchell (Chris), and Dr. Charles Cole Hurd (Cindy), five grandchildren Bennett Lee Wickre (Rebecca), Chris Edmund Swanson (Kathryn), Caleb Matthew Swanson, Mary Katherine Wickre (Aaron Hopkins, fiance), and Charles W. Wesley Hurd, and five great grandchildren Sawyer Lee and Beatrix Cannon Wickre, Rachel Anne and Joseph Ezra Swanson and Korben Dallas Swanson.
She graduated Norview High School in 1954, Norfolk, Virginia. She attended Morehead State College in Kentucky. She met and married Charles E. Hurd, and settled in Virginia Beach. She worked for the federal government for short time and began working as a substitute teacher and teacher in Norfolk City Schools. She returned to college at The College of William and Mary, Norfolk Division now known as Old Dominion University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Education in 1972. She later earned a Master of Arts in Educational Administration (MA) and Educational Specialist (EdS) degrees from The George Washington University. She was an elementary school teacher and Title I teacher at Newtown Road Elementary, a Reading Recovery specialist, an Assistant Principal at Brookwood, Kempsville Meadows and White Oaks Elementary Schools and Principal at Arrowhead and Windsor Oaks Elementary Schools, serving Virginia Beach City Public Schools for over 30 years. Ramona was a past president of the Virginia Beach Association of Elementary School Principals (VBAESP), and was a member in The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, Alpha Rho Chapter, and served in various leadership capacities.
Ramona was a gifted musician playing the organ and piano. She was the Director of various children, youth and adult choirs over the years. She accompanied various churches including Broad Creek Baptist Church, Virginia Heights Baptist Church, Thalia Lynn Baptist Church and Coleman Place Presbyterian Church. She played the organ for countless weddings and services throughout the years, sharing her love for the Lord through the melodies of the organ.
She was a charter member at Thalia Lynn Baptist Church, Virginia Beach, Virginia where she served as a deacon and chair of the Constitution and Bylaws committee for many years. She was a faithful Sunday school teacher and youth leader. Ramona was a servant leader in all aspects of her life. In lieu of flowers, the family is requesting donations be made to the Thalia Lynn Baptist Church Sanctuary Organ Fund in her memory.
The family will receive friends from 6:00-8:00 pm, on Friday, August 2, 2024, at Rosewood-Kellum Funeral Home, and from 10:00 -11:00 am, on Saturday, August 3, 2024, at Thalia Lynn Baptist Church. A funeral service will be held at 11:00 am at the church with a reception immediately following. Interment will be in Rosewood Memorial Park at 2:00 pm.
