Virginia Hope Rexrode

Virginia Hope Turner Rexrode of Moorefield, WV passed away at the Grant Rehabilitation and Care Center in Petersburg, WV on August 7, 2023, 10 days shy of her 95th birthday.  Hope was born on August 17,1928 in Criders, VA to George Allen Turner and Vergie Frances (Crider) Turner.  She was pre-deceased by her parents and two sisters, Georgie F. Smith and Mary Jane Blaine, both of Bergton, VA.  Hope was married to Edward (Allen) Rexrode of Moorefield from 1946 until his death in September 2001.

 Hope is survived by one sister, Betty Jo Fansler of Mathias, WV: her three children, Ramona Goodwin and companion (John Plassmann) of Moorefield, Rex Turner Rexrode (Debbie), of Charlottesville, VA, and Reagan Dryfoos (Jim) of Deep River, CT.  She is also survived by seven grandchildren and three great grandchildren. 

Hope spent her childhood raised on a farm on Shenandoah Mountain during the Great Depression.  She began her education at the Shenandoah Mountain School, a one room schoolhouse.  From there, she graduated from Broadway (VA) High School and Madison College, now James Madison University, in Harrisonburg, VA.  

Hope had a more than a 20-year career as a social worker for the WV Department of Health and Human Services.  She was a child protective worker, investigator, and foster care worker.  She retired from the Department in the 1990s, but she was not through working yet.  She joined FEMA where she worked another 10+ years.  While with FEMA, Hope traveled to areas hit by disaster and helped people register for services.  She worked in New Orleans post Hurricane Katrina.  For FEMA, she also worked in Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, California, Texas, Florida, Alabama, Pennsylvania, New York, southern West Virginia, and the Dakotas (which included time spent on an Indian Reservation).  Hope advocated for people, and especially for people to register to vote.  She felt that if you have the right and privilege to vote, you should exercise it.  

In her later years hope especially loved and enjoyed her dogs. She had three standard poodles, and one toy poodle. Their names were Perfy, Sassy, Duke, and Jake.

The family would like to express their gratitude to the Grant Rehabilitation and Care Center for their excellent care of Hope during the past year.  

A Service of Remembrance will be held 12:00 PM (Noon) Wednesday, August 16, 2023, at the Fraley Funeral Home Chapel with her nephew, Pastor Jeff May officiant. The family will receive friends from 11:00 AM until time of services. Inurnment after the service will follow in the Olivet Cemetery.

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