Virginia (Ginny) Clayton Nowlin, 82, of Salem, Virginia, went home to be with the Lord on Monday, January 24, 2022. Ginny was skilled in crafts and enjoyed scrapbooking with her daughter and friends in her later years. Prior to her retirement, Ginny travelled the states with her husband Don for over 20 years in their Freightliner or Mack semi-tractor-trailer, always telling Don where to go. She passed away at home from natural causes and Dad got his navigator back.

Born in Canton, Missouri on March 6, 1939, to the late Levy Carl and Ethel Adora Brower Clayton, she was the oldest of four siblings. She lived in Chicago, Illinois until she met and married the love of her life, Donald Minor Nowlin of Salem, Virginia, who preceded her in death. Also preceding her is her son, Alan Nowlin and brothers, Harry Clayton and Allen Clayton.

Those left to cherish her memory are her daughter, Joann (J.D.) Sprouse; sons, Melvin (Martha) Nowlin and Gary (Maryellen) Nowlin; grandchildren, Sara (Greg) Hall, Theresa (Michael) Peregoff, Kimberly (Lacy) Burnette, James Sprouse and Liam Nowlin; brother, Carl Clayton of Fort Worth, Texas; sister-in-law, Carolyn Ferst of Florence, New Jersey, as well as our newest addition to the family that she was overjoyed to meet on Sunday, her great-granddaughter, Elizabeth.

The family will welcome friends on Thursday, January 27, 2022, from 6-8 PM, in the Upper Parlor of John M. Oakey & Son Funeral Home, Salem. A graveside service will be held at Sherwood Memorial Park in Salem on Friday, January 28, 2022 at 2PM. Pastor Roy Kanode will officiate.

The family would like to extend special thanks to her neighbors, Jo Wiggins, who was like a sister to her over the years, Dickie and Judith Arnold, Dan and Renee Dutton, and to Dr. Ezekiel Jones, Jr. for his compassionate and tender care.

In lieu of flowers, please consider memorial donations to The American Heart Association or to your favorite charity.