Sandra and Jeff Wilson

The Wilson’s 51+ year journey began one September afternoon in 1964 at a Duke freshmen mixer.   Sandra Lymberis, wearing a little black dress that accentuated her reddish-blond hair caught Jeff’s attention; after a few detours, they married June 20, 1969, in Charlotte, North Carolina, where Sandra spent her childhood.  Jeff was born in Charleston, W. Va.   Frequent business-related moves to Connecticut, Kentucky, Florida, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania resulted in 12 different schools before high school graduation.

Except for a two-year stint in the Navy (1974-76), the Wilsons were in Durham from 1964 until 1979 when they moved to Lynchburg.  Jeff was totally Duke inbred in his education—undergraduate, med school, internship, internal medicine residency, and rheumatology fellowship. During that time Sandra earned two master’s degrees at UNC in Education and Library Science.  Also, during these years two daughters, Elizabeth, who lives in Richmond, and Melissa, a resident of Atlanta, joined the family.  Sandra and Jeff have three grandchildren.

As the girls were growing up, Sandra served as a Girl Scout leader for eight years.   First Presbyterian Church activities included teaching 8th grade Sunday school and confirmation class, serving as a deacon, and joining the Bell choir.  She taught at Seven Hills School—geography, her favorite subject.  She was on the board for Friends of the Library with Lynn Dodge whom she met as a teenager when Sandra taught archery and riflery at Camp Seafarer.

As the nest emptied, Sandra served on the board for the Anne Spencer House where she devoted innumerable hours tending the garden and grounds, serving as a docent, and developing a visitor’s brochure.   She was president of CUM (Churches for Urban Ministry) for two years and managed CUM’s annual fruit sale for so many years that she became known as “the fruit lady” at First Pres. She has never met a book she did not want to read and participates in several book clubs.

Sandra has hiked the majority of the AT in the last few years with Marilyn Hartman and hikes most Thursdays with the Happy Hikers local group.

Jeff started the Lynchburg Rheumatology Clinic July 9,1979.  During his 35 years of practice, he served as the Lynchburg Academy of Medicine President, 6th District Counsellor for the Medical Society of Virginia, and still sees rheumatology patients in the Free Clinic. Coaching girls’ Little League softball with a patient-friend for four years was a wonderful activity outside medicine.  He enjoys writing and has published two books.  Hello, Friend (1989) is a book of compiled stories about Dr. George B. Craddock, and Let Me Tell You Something, Dr. Wilson {2016) is based on things patients told and taught him. Jeff is completing his sixth year on the WC Board of Trustees.

 Together Jeff and Sandra enjoyed fair tennis, poor golf, and fine hiking.   The main shared activity, however, is fishing.  Fly fishing for salmon in Alaska, trout in Colorado and Montana, and bonefish in the Bahamas are memories now, since Jeff’s Parkinson’s, but they still fish at Smith Mountain Lake.  Come see their “Fishing Buddies” statue.