Virginia Thomason Brunson Mann,
widow of former U.S. Congressman
James Robert Mann, died at home
after a long illness on February 19, 2015.
Mrs. Mann was born in Edgefield, SC,
on May 5, 1922, the daughter of the
late Artemas Lowe Brunson and Virginia
Thomason Brunson. She grew up in
Charleston, and her nostalgia for that
city was lifelong.
She graduated from Memminger High
School and in 1942 from the College of
Charleston, where she concentrated
on literature and languages, branches of
learning she loved throughout her life.
At the College her participation in student
organizations was extensive, she served as
captain of the women's basketball team,
and was a member of Chi Omega sorority.
In 2013 she was honored at the College
as its oldest living basketball alumna.
In January 1945, Miss Brunson married
Major James Mann of Greenville, a 1941
graduate of The Citadel.
After the war the couple lived first in
Columbia, where her husband completed
USC Law School, then settled in Greenville,
where Mr. Mann joined his father's law
firm and quickly entered a career of public
service, which culminated in his five terms
in Congress, 1969-79. Mrs. Mann was active
in her husband's political life, and for long
afterward in the Democratic Women of
Greenville County, while rearing four children.
In foreign travel with her husband, she met
world leaders such as President Anwar Sadat
of Egypt and Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin
of Israel.
Mrs. Mann was always involved in
Greenville's civic life: as a member of
the Greenville Garden Club, the Greenville
Woman's Club, the Daughters of the
American Revolution, and as a charter
member of the Carolinians Debutante Club.
She belonged also to the Congressional Club
of Washington, DC. Having three sons and a
daughter, she was a Cub Scout and Girl Scout
leader.
As a member of Earle Street Baptist Church,
she was particularly active in the Women's
Missionary Union, and for many years taught
young children's Sunday school. Through the
W.M.U. she did ample volunteer work in food-
bank distribution and other services.
Mrs. Mann had a family heritage through
several generations of teaching the deaf.
Her great- grandfather founded the South
Carolina School for Deaf and Blind at Cedar
Spring, and until marriage her mother taught
at the New York State School for the Deaf,
having studied at Gallaudet College in
Washington under Alexander Graham Bell.
Preceding Mrs. Mann in death were her
husband in 2010, and her son William Walker
Mann in 2006.
She is survived by her children, James R.
Mann Jr., David Brunson Mann (Carol), and
Virginia Mann Camarda, all currently of
Greenville; by daughter-in-law Claudette
Didul of Los Angeles; six grandchildren:
Marion, David Jr. (Courtney), Ross, and
William Mann, all of Greenville; Thomas
Camarda Jr. (Tabitha) of Los Angeles; and
Michele Willing (Nick) of London, England;
and by six great-grandchildren, Maddie
and Tyler Mann of Greenville; Marlon and
Roman Camarda of Los Angeles; and
Madison and Darcy Willing of London.
She is further survived by twenty nieces
and nephews, including her sister Idalia's
daughters Susan Hogan and Dale Hogan
Murray of Mt. Pleasant, SC.
Also surviving is her only first cousin,
Samuel McDowell Tate of Morganton, NC,
whose mother was Principal of the NC Deaf
School there.
The family wishes to express its profound
gratitude to the in-home caregivers of
Amedisys Hospice, whose constant
professional assistance and counsel
were indispensable in Mrs. Mann's
care for more than a year.