Mary Lois Tharpe Crenshaw Buchanan danced her way to heaven on Sunday, Jan. 2, at the age of 88 years. Born in Saxe on Sept. 2, 1933, Lois was a redhead in every sense of the word and if you knew her, you never forgot her.

As a young wife and mother, she and her first husband, Claude “Chuck” Crenshaw, owned and operated an Esso Service Station in Drakes Branch. In the early 1970’s, she began her work as an Employment Recruiter (Headhunter) of computer professionals in Richmond for DPME, and later Durrell & Associates. She put her many contacts and encyclopedic memory for numbers to good use and was a very successful professional career woman.

In 1988, Lois remarried to her high school sweetheart, David Buchanan, the love of her life. Their 8 short years together were her happiest. After David passed, Lois moved to Urbanna; when she wasn’t working in daughter Jennifer’s retail store, she loved fishing, dancing and volunteering for any worthy cause.

Lois never backed down from a fight; she loved fiercely and had a wicked sense of humor. She was tough but generous to a fault, and if you needed her help, she was there. She will be sorely missed by many friends and family members.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Tucker Nelson and Mary Myrtle Bigger Tharpe and brother, Tucker Watkins Tharpe.

She is survived by son, Glenn Elton Crenshaw (Loretta); daughter, Jennifer Sue Millington Bridgforth (Bill) and grandchildren Ian Vaughan Millington (Sarah Price) and McKenna Elise Millington Overton (Taylor).

A memorial gathering is planned for the spring. Memorial donations can be made to the Middlesex (VA) Volunteer Fire Department, PO Box 71, Urbanna, VA 23175.