James (Jim) and Marian Price

Marian Williamson grew up in Lynchburg and graduated from E. C. Glass High School. In 1963, after two years at Converse College in Spartanburg, South Carolina, she returned home and began working at Virginia Baptist Hospital. That same year, Jim Price, originally from Huntington, West Virginia, and holding a B. A. degree from Hampden-Sydney College and a B. D. from Union Theological Seminary in Richmond, Virginia, arrived in Lynchburg to serve as Assistant Minister at First Presbyterian Church. Here, the two soon met and were married in 1964.

They settled in Richmond and in 1965, Jim completed the requirements for a master’s degree in theology from Union Theological Seminary. Marian became full-time manager of the Price household and eventually mother of two children. Today, daughter Lisa and husband Shane Nazworth have a home in Henrico, Virginia; son James also lives in that area of the Commonwealth. The Prices have three grandchildren. 

Lynchburg College (today, the University of Lynchburg) offered Jim a teaching position in the Religious Studies Department in 1965. His acceptance meant a move to Lynchburg where the Prices remained until 1969, when they relocated, this time to Nashville, Tennessee. Jim enrolled at Vanderbilt University and in 1972 received a Ph.D. The  Prices once again settled in Lynchburg as Jim resumed his teaching position at Lynchburg College. He retired in 2011. During his tenure at Lynchburg College, Jim also periodically assisted the minister and congregation at First Presbyterian Church in a variety of ways.

Jim and Marian have similar interests. They both enjoy reading and listening to music. Marian sang for several years with the Jefferson Choral Society and in the Chancel Choir of First Presbyterian Church. She served on the Board of the Very Special Arts of the Commonwealth of Virginia.  Marian lost her eyesight in the early years of her life giving her special challenges and accomplishments living in a sighted world as a blind person. Over the years she enjoyed playing cello in private and, “with great anxiety,” in public. 

Jim, since participating in an exchange program in Montpellier, France, in 1961 and 1962 has had a fondness for French culture and cuisine.

The Prices have been volunteers for Meals on Wheels and Marian, at Central Virginia Training School. Marian is lifelong member of First Presbyterian Church.