Virginia Lee Sledge was 93 years old when she passed away peacefully at her home in Kingwood, Texas, on Saturday, November 18, 2023. She was surrounded by her family who loved and cherished her dearly. She was a woman of great faith and was the spiritual prayer warrior in the family.

Virginia, who went by “Billie” Sledge, was born in 1930 in Patricia, Texas, in Dawson County to Robert Lee and Mantie McReynolds. She had one older sister Barbara Palmer, two younger brothers Jack McReynolds and Charlie McReynolds, and two younger twin sisters Juanell Robinson and Wanda Allen. Charlie McReynolds is the only surviving sibling.

She was raised in Andrews, Texas on the 5 Wells Ranch and moved to Seminole, Texas in 1946 where her father Robert served as Sherriff of Gaines County until his death in a vehicle accident in 1953. During her senior year at Seminole High School, she was voted class beauty, she was a cheerleader, she was in the curtain drama club, the future homemakers of America club, and the glee club. She was the Senior class secretary and crowned the 1948 Football Queen.

Virginia’s first job was working at Gaines County Courthouse in Seminole Texas as an abstract typist. She held that job until she married the love of her life Charlie Sledge after they met at one of his league basketball games in the fall of 1950. Two years later they got married on November 1, 1952. Two weeks after their honeymoon, they moved to Tioga, North Dakota where she began a lifetime of being a wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. There were a few other typing jobs in Longview and Corpus Christi, Texas but it was home where she excelled at being an expert domestic engineer. It was home where her daily commitment and devotion to reading God’s Word and praying over her family gave her the most joy and satisfaction. Charlie and Billie enjoyed 70 incredible years of marriage together.

She is survived by her daughter Sandy Whalen and her husband Tim, her son Chuck Sledge, and his wife Cyndie, her five grandchildren, Nicole Parker, Angela Peters, Jacob Lahti, Wesley Sledge and Tori Sledge, her great-grandchildren, Isaiah Denissen, Emily Peters, Darcy Trosclair, and Shelby Snyder plus many nieces, nephews and cousins.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Robert Lee and Mantie McReynolds, older sister Barbara Palmer, younger brother Jack McReynolds, and sisters Juanell Robinson, and Wanda Allen.