Norville K. Wooden

Norville King Wooden passed peacefully into the arms of her Savior, with her daughters there in the early morning of Friday, March 25, after a private but courageous battle with cancer-having beaten it once. A resident of Hampton for more than 76 years, her passion for her yard was known to neighbors, family, and friends, winning the Yard of the Month recognition for her neighborhood. Born, raised and educated in Prince George, Virginia, she was the fifth child of eleven children. After her mother passed, even though she was not the oldest girl, she became the matriarch of the family. Soon after she married Roger O. Wooden of Surry County in 1944, he left for WWII and France. A young bride from rural Prince George, VA, with a ticket longer than she was tall, Norville, only 18 at that point, took the train cross country to Cheyenne, Wyoming where her husband was stationed. Fourteen years later the family traveled cross country by car, coast to coast, and stopped in Cheyenne to see the woman with whom they had lived. After Roger’s discharge, the couple moved to Hampton where Norville remained. Norville raked pine needles from under one of her special trees on January 13th this year, her 94th birthday and almost 20 months into hospice. Fiercely independent and private, she lived alone until the last weeks of her life. While her two oldest children were in elementary school, she attended and graduated from the Peninsula Business College where she was crowned “Mrs. Peninsula Business College.” Having a number of different careers, she worked as a legal secretary and retired as a teacher’s aide from Aberdeen Elementary and Hampton Public Schools. Norville traveled with Roger over the years to many of the fifty states, the domestic travel culminating in a 50th anniversary trip to five Hawaiian Islands. Later they spent three weeks in Europe, traveling by car through the north of France, spending time in Paris, and visiting the Netherlands, Belgium, and England. Norville loved her children and grandchildren dearly, always being supportive of them. She is survived by her two devoted and caring daughters, Jean Cunningham and Kimberly Woodson (Carl) both of Richmond and her son, Roger, Jr., Hampton; six grandchildren, Eric Wooden (Soani), Hampton; Brooke Cunningham, Minneapolis, MN; Justin Cunningham, Wrightsville, PA; and Bradford Cunningham(Shelcy), Columbus, OH; James and Heather Williams, Richmond; four great grandchildren, Jackson, Alexander and Maxwell Cunningham, Columbus, OH; and Berhani Zulu, Minneapolis, MN. In addition, Norville leaves four siblings: Catherine Mason, GA; Herbert King (Judy), Poquoson; June Milton (Norman), Charlotte, NC; Lillian Boyd (George Franklin), Prince George, VA. Five brothers predeceased her, leaving four surviving sisters-in-law, Arlene King, Fayetteville, NC; Hazel King, Hampton; Edith King, Prince George. She leaves one brother-in-law, Clarence Edward Wooden, Spring Grove, VA; and three other sisters -in-law, Doris Adkins, Petersburg; Louise Jones, Williamstown, NJ; Roslyn Elliott and Bernette Wooden, Spring Grove. She leaves a host of nieces and nephews, a multitude of cousins and a very special friend, Ella Robinson of Hampton.

There will be no visitation or viewing. A private service is being held.