Carol M Varner

Rachel Mills. Carol was the middle child to two brothers, Charles Jr. and George. She attended

Warrenton schools and graduated in 1960. During her junior year in high school, she was

crowned Miss Junior Fauquier County.

Carol met Thomas Varner in Warrenton in 1959 and they were married on August 27, 1960,

after which they moved to Waynesboro. She attended the University of Virginia until the birth

of her first child. They have three children: Thomas Jr. (Diane), Susie (Ed) Driskill, and Randy;

and four grandchildren, Brent, Jordan(Analise), Ann, and Marilyn. Her husband Tom

predeceased her in May 2024.

In the early years, Carol was a homemaker. As the children grew older, she became very

active in the Rose Cliff Garden Club, starting in 1973. She took a strong interest in horticulture

and became a master judge of flower shows. She was very proud that she exhibited flower

arrangements at the Virginia Museum of Art four different times. She also decorated the

Governor’s Mansion for special social events. She started her own flower-arranging business in

the late 1980s called Carollee’s Flowers and provided arrangements for many weddings and

other social events for thirty years.

Carol served on many boards such as the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton and the

Waynesboro Electoral Board. She was very active at the Shenandoah Art Center and was a

member of an arts club. She enjoyed taking art lessons and also painted in her later years. She

was an active member of Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Waynesboro and provided fresh

floral arrangements for the altar each week until about two years ago.

Carol and Tom enjoyed working with and maintaining their extensive flower gardens and a

vegetable garden. She was a very social person, enjoyed spending time with family and friends,

and is very much loved and missed.

The family would like to thank the Wellspring Unit workers at Aviva Baldwin Park who helped

take good care of Carol as well as Legacy Hospice of Staunton for her care in her final days.

Especially Pam, Rachel and Trish!

Her celebration of life service will be held at Grace Lutheran Evangelical Church in

Waynesboro, Va on March 28, 2025 at 11:00 am.

The family asks, in lieu of flowers, that contributions please be made to the Grace Evangelical

Lutheran Church Memorial Fund or to the Alzheimer’s Association

Arrangements entrusted to the Waynesboro Chapel of Reynolds Hamrick Funeral Homes.

Relatives and friends may share condolences and memories with the family online by visiting www.reynoldshamrickfuneralhomes.com