Interview Virginia Lee Bagnell ( Ginny)    Interviewer Jean Hodges

Ginny  born Buxton Hospital in Newport News...Rheva Grey nurse. 1945

Mother and Father  - Anne and Carl Bagnell one brother Everett

 Mother a teacher and Navy Yard Bus driver WWII.  Oysterman and NNSY

Lifelong resident of Crittenden and Member of Ebenezer United Methodist Church.

Ginny attended 1- 12 grades at Chuckatuck  School where her mother was the first-grade teacher.

Ginny enjoyed growing up in Crittenden where she roller skated on the rink at the old school (CE&H Hall), and went swimming off of  Bunkley’s and the Rivershore.  She rode her bike all over Crittenden, Eclipse and the Upton Farm (Cedar Point).

She got her first motorboat at age 10. And owned a rowboat before that. Ginny has owned a boat ever since.

At age 11- 13 Ginny had a soft Crab business in connection with her father’s oyster business.  She would get up two or three times in the middle of the night and her mother would take her to the shedding house to check on the crabs.  She sold them for $2.50 a dozen

During her high school years, a waterski club was formed with Billy and Betty Holiday as sponsors.  They practiced in the Chuckatuck Creek where they built jumps and platforms. Ginny, Gloria Hazelwood, Olivia Hazelwood, Richard Gordon Davis and the three Holiday boys were some of the members.  They performed at the opening of Ginny’s dad’s marina, Burrell’s Bay, Planter’s Club, downtown Suffolk and even as far away as Maryland.  Ginny said they were as good as Cyprus Gardens Skiers.  Some could ski barefooted, backwards, on stools, on disks and in pyramids.

On weekends the families partied together with the children in one room and the adults in another.  On snowy nights families would gather at night at Shirley and Boosey Madre’s to sleigh ride.  On one occasion the preacher and Earnest Hazelwood’s sleigh went into the pond and had to be pulled out with a rope they were very wet.  The children always were fed popcorn and hot chocolate in the basement while the adults partied upstairs.  When the pond froze over everyone gathered to ice skate. (The interviewer learned to ice skate on this pond)

Ginny’s father, Carl Bagnell and Charles Grey Adams owned Nansemond Fish and Oyster Company located where the Volvo site is today. Most of Ginny summer days were spent with her dad on the water buying oysters , picking up the shuckers and taking the packed oyster to market in Norfolk to Fass Brothers or Ballards.

Ginny enjoyed walking to Bruce’s (Bruce Keelings) (Christine’s Market) with friends for snowballs and dill pickles and eating both on the way home.

Halloween she always went to Mrs. Darden’s first for a popcorn ball second to Miss Nannie Mason’s for a pomegranate.

The first TV she saw was at Red Matthew’s all neighborhood kids gathered to watch Howdy Doody.

When she was small Ginny had a nanny goat and when she could not be found she and Nanny were in nanny’s house taking a nap.

Helen Thomas came to the Bagnell home  to take care of Everett when Miss Anne went back to teaching and stayed the rest of her working days.  Ginny and Helen were best buddies .They worked in the garden. Ginny would walk in wet cut grass and her feet would turn green and Helen would Clorox her feet (and everything she owned).  They washed the clothes in a wringer washer. They cut off chicken’s heads, watched them flop around the yard, dunked them in hot water and then plucked them.  They ate watermelon and spit seeds.  They went to Norfolk on Saturdays on the Greyhound Bus.  Helen loved to eat fish but did not like to fish from a boat because she could not swim.

 Ginny remembers the neighborhood being very quiet and not much traffic....Very different today.

Life in the community with lots of friends and families having fun together taught

Ginny about caring for and helping others.