Lester Tibbits Russell and Virginia Louise Gordon

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Husband Lester Tibbits Russell ¹

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           Born: 
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

       Marriage: 1 Jan 1942 1

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Wife Virginia Louise Gordon ²

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           Born: 20 Aug 1909 2
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

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         Father: Edward Budd Gordon (1885-1941) 2
         Mother: Louisa McKean "Lulu" DeWoody (1885-1933) 3

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Children

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1 M Richard Gordon Russell ¹

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           Born: 2 Jan 1943 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 28 Sep 1993
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Cathryn Ritter Alexander (      -      ) 4
           Marr: 30 Dec 1964 4

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2 F Judith Louise Russell ¹

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           Born: 12 Oct 1944 1
     Christened: 
           Died: 
         Buried: 

         Spouse: Arthur Davidson (      -      ) 5
           Marr: Apr 1968 5

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General Notes: Husband - Lester Tibbits Russell

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He was a member of the Adamson Clan, a sept or branch of the Gordon Clan.
They resided in Franklin, New Hampshire, but also maintain homes in Petersburg, NY; Mullingar, Republic of Ireland, and Santa Anita Club de Golf, Guadalajara, Mexico.

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General Notes: Wife - Virginia Louise Gordon

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She graduated from the University of Pittsburgh, where she had been awarded Honor and Pan-hellenic Scholarships. She did post graduate work at Carnegie Tech and Pitt. During her senior year she worked as a volunteer sewing teacher at the Irene Kaufmann Settlement. She returned to the Settlement as a staff member for several summer seasons, while teaching Latin, French and English in the Pittsburgh area during the winter. In 1957 she became Director of Girls' and Women's Activities at the Franklin Avenue Settlement in Youngstown, Ohio, working to stamp out juvenile delinquency in the area having the highest rate in the U.S. In three years the Juvenile Court reported that the area around the settlement had improved so greatly that there was more delinquency in the best areas of the city than in the settlement area. Only a few days after her arrival six husky young men only a bit younger than she asked her to teach them to cook. She agreed. The next day, however, the Boys' Director tried to dissuade her, saying that those fellows were the worst in the whole neighborhood; anything not nailed down would be stolen and she herself might not be safe. Each had been in reform school or jail. Virginia countered by saying that she would keep her promise until she had reason to break it. When the boys came, she made them comb their hair and scrub before starting. Then, while the "pigs in a blanket" were cooking, she challenged them to scrub the wooden floor cleaner than the girls had. That done, she took them to the kindergarten room next door and played the piano while they gathered around and sang. After the "pigs" were eaten and clean-up concluded, she told the boys to get ready for in­spection of their premises. She herself opened the refrigerator and studied the contents to give them time to replace any filched silver. On inspection everything was there. The boys even voted to continue. Three weeks later they had become so tame that they set up a tea table and served tea and cookies they had made to a group of church women. The next year these "toughies" had become Junior Leaders, working with small boys.
Virginia taught the 40 kindergarten children, among whom was a holy terror, Theresa. One day Theresa slipped into the kitchen and turned on all the gas burners. Finding her there, Virginia did what she had never done before. She sat down and took Theresa on her knee. Putting her arms around the child, Virginia said, "You know I love you, don't you, Theresa?" No response from Theresa. "I love you and I need you to help me. Could you do that?" Two arms crept around Virginia's neck and there was a faint nod. "You know Anthony best because he lives next to you, (Anthony was Italian and spoke no Eng­lish.) He won't take part in anything. I need you to play with him, take his hand and bring him into the games and make him sit beside you when we have our crackers and milk. Could you do this for me?" This time there was an emphatic nod. Virginia gave her a hug and led her back to class. Theresa was no longer a problem; she was too busy taking care of Anthony, who was responding to her. Meanwhile, Theresa was basking in praise. Some time later Virginia had a caller, who introduced herself as Theresa's social worker. She explained that Theresa's mother, a Polish immigrant, had been deported soon after Theresa's illegitimate birth. The only foster parents to be found were an elderly couple near the settlement. Theresa had been such a problem there that the authorities decided to put her in an institution for the mentally re­tarded. And then a change had come over Theresa. "I wanted you to know that there's to be no institution now that Theresa's no longer the uncontrollable child she used to be," the social worker said.
After her marriage Virginia worked as a volunteer under the American Association of University Women. She brought Children's Theatre to Newark, Ohio, and with the profits suggested an AAUW scholarship. She became the first woman to serve on the Newark School Board and introduced Visiting Teachers (trained both as social workers and teachers) instead of truant officers. Moving to Newburg, N.Y., she inaugurated a year's study program about the education of gifted children, moderating monthly seminars of school officials and principals from the entire county, as well as bringing in nationally known speakers. This was one of the first programs in the U.S. concerned with educating gifted children. In 1970, noting that very few families in the Taconic Valley (N.Y.) where she then lived had vegetable gardens, Virginia and Les started teaching local children to garden organically. The first
year nine children, and the second year ninteen, successfully grew home plots having at least five vegetables, while learning the fundamentals of fertilizing, mulching, poison-free bug control and com­post making. Each child was rewarded with an expense-paid week at 4-H Camp.
In 1978, living part of the year in Ireland, Virginia noted the extreme loneliness of women who had moved to the area after living in another part of Ireland or abroad. Her solution was formation of FAILTE (WELCOME) CLUB, which introduced these women to each other and started interest groups among them. In a recent country-wide survey done by the Industrial Development Agency all recent arrivals were asked what they had found most helpful in adjusting. The ma­jority declared FAILTE had been most helpful.
In 1961 Virginia and Les started Taconic Plastics, a family business which coats glass fabrics with Teflon or silicone. Vir­ginia was Secretary-Treasurer and Director until her retirement in 1979. She had started writing in the 50s but stopped when she became involved in Taconic Plastics. She eventually completed an historical novel, DERRICK OF DESTINY, using the drilling of the Drake well as background.
She is listed in Who's Who of American Women.

Possible SSDI: VIRGINIA L RUSSELL 20 Aug 1909 31 Dec 2001 (V) 02653 (Orleans, Barnstable, MA) (none specified) 073-36-6634 New York

1 Virginia Gordon Russell, The DeWoody Family of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Cochranton, PA: Specialty Printers, 1981.), Pg 63.

2 Virginia Gordon Russell, The DeWoody Family of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Cochranton, PA: Specialty Printers, 1981.), Pg 60.

3 Virginia Gordon Russell, The DeWoody Family of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Cochranton, PA: Specialty Printers, 1981.), Pg 56.

4 Virginia Gordon Russell, The DeWoody Family of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Cochranton, PA: Specialty Printers, 1981.), Pg 68.

5 Virginia Gordon Russell, The DeWoody Family of Venango County, Pennsylvania (Cochranton, PA: Specialty Printers, 1981.), Pg 70.