Viola Lydia Landers died on November 3, 2014, while in the capable care of the Royal Nursing Center in Falmouth. She was 89.
She was born in Bethpage, Long Island, New York, on April 28, 1925. She grew up there with her four sisters and one brother.
In her youth, she worked for Doubleday Publishing in New York City and even played for a time on their professional softball team. She loved to roller skate and ice skate and was wonderful at both.
In 1946, Viola married Leslie Landers and moved to Oak Bluffs. She would spend the next 68 years right there on Lawrence Avenue in the cute house surrounded by colorful flowers. She would arrange those flowers into bouquets and loved to share them with many of her friends. After 51 years of marriage, Viola lost her husband in 1997.
Viola was an exceptional seamstress. This was a talent she used for several decades at the Harborside Hotel in Edgartown. Many can attest to her sewing skills because she gave her homemade pillows as thank-you gifts for all those who showed her kindness throughout the years.
She was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and had a deep love for God. She lived her life dedicated to him and never missed an opportunity to talk about God’s Kingdom, the promised paradise, and our hope for the future found in the Bible.
She is survived by her five children, Mark and Kathy Landers of Oak Bluffs; David and Suzie Landers of Hyannis; Janice and Kenneth Nelson of Raleigh, N.C.; Jill and Berry Dunston of Raleigh N.C.; and Lorrie and Robert Ferreira of Clearwater, Fla.
Her family also includes 15 grandchildren and many great-grandchildren, and even a great-great-grandchild, too.
Vi was always kind, gentle, and loving. She forever looked for the good in people, and she will be dearly missed.
Her memorial service will be held at 1 pm on Sunday, November 9, at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovah’s Witnesses at 48 State Road in West Tisbury.