Ann Weisfeld Grey

Ann Woodrum Weisfeld Grey, a resident of Altavista, Va., died on June 12, 2025, at Lynchburg's Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital, her husband by her side. She was 74, having suffered illness but briefly. Ann was preceded in death by her parents. She was the eldest daughter of Abingdon's Charles E. Weisfeld, a decorated WWII veteran, and wife Martha, a force-of-nature newspaper woman, both publishers of a weekly county newspaper, the Abingdon-Virginian (1841-2006), the then oldest business in Washington County, Va. Ann had just lost a beloved aunt last May 16. Ann Grey was a direct descendant of two Revolution-era heroes: Colonel James Snodgrass, who led regional Overmountain Men to victory at the Battle of King's Mountain; and Rev. Charles Cummings, the Black's Fort "Fighting Parson," the first minister in southwestern Virginia. Ann was the first grandchild on both sides of her family, a beautiful blonde with big blue eyes, much doted on. She enhanced her baby clothes with an attachment to a great-grandmother's blue shawl. Ann was whimsical and creative. She would expertly draw an animal, color it, cut it out and brandish it while keeping her siblings rapt, narrating what she called an "adventure." She was a brownie scout, a Girl Scout, a teen waitress at Martha Washington Inn, and an adored Abingdon United Methodist Sunday School teacher. Ann sang well, and participated in an Abingdon standing UMC concert of "Oklahoma"; then walked off with a skewered AHS Christmas play by slinking the length of the auditorium aisle, as Herod's wife. Grey was a vociferous, even ravenous reader. The thickest acclaimed novel was never written that she wouldn't devour. Ann favored Dickens, Steinbeck, Lawrence and Updike, among many others; was fascinated by English Royal History and swept up by The Beatles. She wrote poetry beautifully. Ann finished Abingdon High School as a National Honor Society student, before graduating from Community Hospital of Roanoke Valley School of Professional Nursing; then subsequently received an ETSU Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree. Her years in regional nursing saw her in obstetrics at both Abingdon's Johnston Memorial and Bristol Memorial Hospitals. She then practiced Psychiatric Nursing at Bedford County Hospital, Salem, Va.'s LewisGale Medical Center and The Adult Psychiatric Center at Centra Virginia Baptist Hospital. Ann's health had seen challenges since retirement, but her husband, Michael Grey, did a superb job of caring for her. Mr. Grey, a small farmer and fellow nurse, is retired, and was married to his wife just short of 26 years. Additionally aside from her husband, Ann is survived by one sister, Mary Weisfeld, of Lakes Wales, Fl.; one brother, Robert Weisfeld, of Abingdon; and Joey, a 22-lb. Maine Coon tuxedo cat of the home. Ann Weisfeld Grey requested that she be cremated, and interred at Altavista, Va. Finch & Finch, Altavista is assisting the family with arrangements.

Ann Weisfeld Grey

February 19, 1951 - June 12, 2025